Frank Dobson Dead At Age 79
Former Labor Health secretary and London mayoral candidate Frank Dobson has passed awy. He died at the age 79, his family have said.
Mr Dobson was first elected to serve as Labour’s MP for Holborn and St Pancras in 1979, and served as the first health secretary under Tony Blair after the party’s landslide electoral victory in 1997.
He went on to become its candidate for the mayor of London in 2000, but he ultimately finished third behind winner Ken Livingstone – who ran as an independent when Mr Dobson gained the party’s nomination – and Conservative Steven Norris.
He also gained notoriety for his attachment to his beard, rejecting calls from a pollster to shave during the mayoral race by telling the adviser to “get stuffed”.
He leaves behind his wife Janet and their three children.