HUNDREDS gathered to say a sad farewell to “Mr Southend”, Sir Teddy Taylor, the former MP for Rochford and Southend East.

The funeral of Sir Teddy took place at St Mary’s Church, Southend on Friday, with hundreds of residents and dignitaries gathering to pay their respects to the much-loved Conservative politician.

A pipe major lead the funeral entourage into the Norman church - a fitting homage to the Glaswegian MP who died last month at the age of 80.

The service for the chain-smoking, teetotal, sports-loving politician who was laid to rest with a Southend United scarf, was lead by the Rev Sohail Ejaz with a reading by the Rev Derek Kingston.

Sir Michael Hirst a former Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party politician, began the tributes at the service attended by Sir Teddy’s wife Sheila and his sons John and George and his daughter Louise, with an account of his meteoric rise in politics as a young man in Glasgow.

Sir Michael said: “Teddy was a role model for my generation of aspiring politicians in Scotland and he was a veritable human dynamo.

“Teddy Taylor cut his political teeth at a rate that would have shocked the dentist. He was adopted to fight a local Government seat in Glasgow before he was actually 21, then the lowest legal limit for a candidate.”

Sir Teddy was elected to the Glasgow corporation for the ward of Cathcart before his 23rd birthday. However, Sir Michael said he succeeded in ruffling the feathers of the largely upper middle class Conservative politicians at the time who were “far more at home on a grouse moor than a council estate.” He added: “They were certainly not the kind of member like Teddy who was able to build an instinctive rapport with thousands of constituents who lived in council houses.

“His boundless energy and devoted service to constituents unsettled some of his less active colleagues who preferred to spend Saturday morning shooting than attending constituency surgery.”

Sir Teddy became MP for Cathcart in 1964 with a 3,000 majority at a time when Tories were losing seats.

Sir Michael said: “His success was a reflection of the man. He was an utterly brilliant communicator. He could explain political concepts and issues in terms that the man in the street could readily understand. He never complicated an issue and his manner was jovial and empathetic.”

Sir Teddy went on to become a junior minister in Edward Heath’s Government but famously resigned over Britain’s membership of the European Union. Sir Michael said: “To me it does seem a terrible waste and travesty that such a talented and able man was never to hold ministerial office again.”

After losing his Scottish seat in the 1979 election which swept Margaret Thatcher to power, Sir Teddy “headed for the high road” eventually becoming MP for the then seat of Southend East.

Sir Michael said:”What was Scotland’s loss was Southend’s gain. Teddy continued to be the same human dynamo that he had been in Scotland. Teddy leaves us a perfect example of devoted public service, integrity, decency, selflessness and hard work.” Quoting Robert Burns, Sir Michael said: “We’ll never see the likes of him again.”