Alistair Darling memorial: Tributes paid to chancellor, campaigner, family man and tractor enthusiast

Alistair Darling returned to politics to lead the Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum in 2014

He is known for being the steady-handed Labour politician who led the country through a severe financial crisis and who headed up the victorious Better Together campaign in the Scottish independence referendum.

But the Alistair Darling remembered in a memorial service in Edinburgh was one of a family man, friend and mentor – with a deep passion for tractors and CalMac ferries.

Mr Darling’s two children, Anna and Calum, spoke fondly of their father, who died, aged 70, on November 30, as a man who always put his family first. He was married for 38 years to Maggie Vaughan, a former journalist.

Tony and Cherie Blair arrive at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral to pay their respects to Alistair Darling. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

Their tributes were heard by hundreds of mourners at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in the capital’s West End, including former prime minister Sir Tony Blair. Sir Tony attended alongside former prime minister and chancellor Gordon Brown and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, as well as First Minister Humza Yousaf, former first minister Jack McConnell and Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Mr Blair was joined by his wife, Cherie, while the service was also attended by Labour politicians Ed Balls and his wife, Yvette Cooper, former Scottish secretary Douglas Alexander and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar. Former Scottish Conservative party leader Ruth Davidson, who campaigned for Scotland to stay in the UK in the 2014 independence referendum as part of the Better Together campaign led by Mr Darling, and Tory MP David Mundell also paid their respects.

A private cremation for family and close friends took place on Monday.

Friend and former Labour minister Brian Wilson described Mr Darling, who was born in London, but later moved to Edinburgh, where he was an MP between 1987 and 2015, as a “straightforward good guy who cared enough to make a difference”.

Gordon Brown attends the memorial service for Alistair Darling, with his wife, Sarah. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

He recalled a holiday he and his family had taken in Majorca with Mr Darling’s family, shortly after he became Chancellor of the Exchequer – when the politician had been embarrassed to be recognised by other tourists in a supermarket.

"One of Alistair’s characteristics was as a public figure who did not like being recognised by the public,” he said. “Which was a paradox, as he was very recognisable.”

Mr Wilson recounted Mr Darling's early days as a politician, working “in a pinstriped suit” as a city councillor in the morning and “in the jumper and jeans of a [Labour Party] activist in the afternoons”.

He added: “If there’s a visual image I can take of Alistair, it is not at the dispatch box, but it’s the guy from half a century earlier, in the jeans and jumper.”

Former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, died last month, aged 70.

Anna Darling recalled a conversation with her father after she had taken on her first job – and confided in him that she had felt out of her depth.

"He said to me ‘do you think I knew what I was doing when I was Chancellor and the banks collapsed?’,” she recalled. “He said ‘no-one knows what they are doing, you just have to do it the best you can and move on’.”

She added: “The two jobs he took most seriously were being a good husband to our mum and being our dad. I feel that love and pride like he had for us is a very special thing and we will carry it with us forever."

Ms Darling said her father, who had a strong connection to his mother’s home area of the Hebrides, used to like to visit Scottish islands to spot Caledonian MacBrayne ferries, another favourite pursuit.

"Our dad would want me to point out that it is quite difficult to see a ferry these days,” she added, in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the political row over the delays and cancellations that have plagued CalMac routes in recent years.

Her brother, Calum, recalled his father’s 60th birthday, when his mother had hired a small tractor as a surprise. Mr Darling proceeded to use the machine on a friend’s farm to “dig small holes and fill them in again”.

"We did know him best and what we know is, however interested he was in politics and economics, what he really loved apart from his family and the countryside was tractors,” he said.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves also paid tribute to Mr Darling at the service, where she spoke of his role as a mentor to her as a young politician. He was one of only three politicians to serve continuously in government between 1997 and 2010 – serving under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

He held the role of Chancellor throughout the 2008 financial crisis, when he was praised for his “calmness in a crisis”.

Describing Mr Darling as a “man of great integrity” and recalling happy evenings spent “eating lasagne and drinking red wine” with the Darling family at their home in Edinburgh, Ms Reeves said it was a “privilege” to speak at the service.

She told mourners: “Alistair, through his decency and his honesty and shrewd judgment, represented the very best of our politics.”

Reverend Canon Marion Chatterley, who conducted the service, revealed Mr Darling had been a regular attendee at the Cathedral’s Nine Lessons and Carols service at Christmas, along with his family – where she said he had often read one of the lessons.

She told the congregation Mr Darling “will be deeply missed, but he will never be forgotten”.

Piper Finlay MacDonald played before the service begun, alongside pieces from classical composers Johannes Brahms and Johann Sebastian Bach.

The St Mary’s Cathedral choir performed pieces including ‘O Radiant Dawn’ and a setting to music of Psalm 121, while the congregation joined in with hymns, The Bleak Midwinter, Love Divine and Jerusalem.