Former Isle of Wight council leader and politician, Morris Barton OBE, sadly passed away on Friday evening.
Originally elected as a Labour councillor in the 1960s, Mr Barton went on to serve his constituents as a Liberal Democrat for a record period of 14 years (1984-98).
He worked for four decades in the production department of the County Press.
Will be fondly remembered
On behalf of the Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats, Nicholas Belfitt (Chair), told OnTheWight,
“The Isle of Wight Liberal Democrats send our condolences to the family of Morris Barton and are most sadden by the news. We would like to thank Morris for his many years of hard work as councilor and member of the party, he will be remembered fondly for his support, commitment and work he accomplished.”
A great advocate for the Island
Chairman of the council, Charles Chapman, said,
“As Chairman of the Isle of Wight Council, I was sad to hear of the passing of Morris Barton OBE, who has been both a friend and valued work colleague during my time with the authority.
“He served on both borough, town and county councils and his dedication to his role was second to none.
“The Island has lost a great advocate and supporter who took us from the Isle of Wight County Council to a unitary authority – no mean feat as this was the pilot. His wisdom and knowledge will be sadly missed.
“My sincere condolences are with his family today, a thought I know will be echoed by all those that worked with him at County Hall over the years.”
Reputation reached well beyond the Council
Leader of the Isle of Wight council, Dave Stewart, said,
“I wish to extend my personal condolences to the family of Morris Barton following his death earlier this week.
“I am aware that Morris had been a previous leader of the council for many years and his reputation reached well beyond the Isle of Wight Council. Following his long tenure as council leader he continued to be a source of guidance and support to many others working in public life.
“I personally found his views and advice informative and thought provoking and I wish to acknowledge his contribution to the Island.”
An inspiration
Julia Baker-Smith spoke on behalf of the Island Independent Councillors. She said,
“On behalf of Island Independent Councillors I send our sincerest condolences to Cllr Barton’s family.
“Morris was an exceptional politician and advocate for the Isle of Wight. He will be greatly missed.
“On a personal note, I have known Morris since I was a child and he inspired me to become a Councillor. I am forever grateful to him for his support and mentorship and am so very sad to have lost a friend.”
Always had a supportive word
Labour councillor, Geoff Lumley, who always enjoyed a joust with Morris over his former membership of the Labour party, said,
“Morris was the pre-eminent Island public servant for the 14 years prior to 1998. All other IW Council leaders are measured against him and all fail. I only wish I had succeeded in persuading him to return to his political roots, but it wasn’t for the want of trying.
“We were never councillors together, but he always had a supportive word for me after I was elected.”
Had the talent to carry it off
Former Isle of Wight Labour Party Secretary, Robert Jones, who had known Morris for almost 50 years, told OnTheWight,
“I knew Morris Barton for nearly 50 years – he was a difficult Labour councillor when I first became Secretary of the Isle of Wight Labour Party in 1975, and had been for some time before that, as I well knew.
“He tried, I think, to remain loyal to the Labour Party even when it was quite obvious that the best way – and perhaps the only way – of defeating the Tory Mark Woodnutt, whose standards of probity in public life were not all they should have been to put it at its kindest, was to unite the Labour and Liberal votes to bring him down: a tactic which was easier to accomplish then than it would be now, when the figures just don’t stack up any more.
“We had violent arguments – he rang me back once with the opening line “don’t slam the phone down”; you couldn’t dislike a man who began a conversation that way – because I HAD slammed the phone down, and was furious with him. And yet – I couldn’t be angry with him for long, because he had a vision for the Island which almost no one else had, and he was frustrated by the slow-thinking Labour councillors by whom he was involved at the time; he and the most forward thinking of them, Cllr Sinclair Glossop, unfortunately never saw eye to eye – Sinclair was not much given to sympathy for prima donnas, and there’s not much point in denying that Morris had a touch of the diva about him: a love of the limelight – but then, he also had the talent to carry it off.”
Most successful council leader
Robert continued,
“Morris was probably the most successful leader of the Isle of Wight Council we’ve ever had – Cllr Geoff Lumley, currently the charismatic leader of the Island Council’s Labour Group, has said as much – and if anyone should recognize a maverick of unusual talent, it’s Geoff.
“At times, I was infuriated by Morris: and was bitterly disappointed when, in my view, he betrayed the Labour Party on largely spurious grounds; he didn’t even seem to be clear on the reasons why he’d resigned the party whip (to which he was never very obedient): he claimed to have left us because of the emergence of the far left: it was just his bad luck, really, that I’d filed his letter of resignation, which laid the blame on the far right, specifically on the late Reg Prentice MP. But it doesn’t matter – he resigned for solidly pragmatic reasons, and I couldn’t blame him for them: we all have to make our own political decisions, for our own reasons, and Morris made his in the interests of the working people whom he’d always sought to represent.
“I had many disagreements with my friend Morris over the years, but he always was my friend, and I’m going to miss him.”
Our thoughts are with Morris’s family, friends and colleagues.
Article edit
9.18: Comment from Geoff Lumley added. 13.31 Comment from Cllr Chapman added.
Source: IWCP
Image: Flower’s Lover under CC BY 2.0
