Thatcher’s funeral: ‘Another of Gordon Brown’s many mistakes to allow huge Tory festival at public expense’

In the second exclusive extract of his secret political diaries, Chris Mullin takes aim at tributes to the Iron Lady, reveals Tony Benn considered his life a failure, and labels Ed Miliband simultaneously ‘clever and stupid’

The coffin of Margaret Thatcher arrives on a gun carriage during her ceremonial funeral at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2013 (AFP/Getty)

An MP for 23 years and minister in the Labour government of Tony Blair, Chris Mullin became a cherished political diarist thanks to his blend of candour and lack of interest in the pomp of high office.

In the Commons, he was a self-effacing junior minister best known for eschewing official chauffeur-driven cars and for representing Sunderland South, the solid Labour inner-city constituency whose result is almost always first to be declared on election night.

His first three diaries won praise from critics for being “wickedly indiscreet”, “a treat to be savoured” and being “the sharpest and most revealing political diaries since Alan Clark’s”. This fourth volume, serialised exclusively here, details life after retirement from Westminster in 2010.