Left-wing pundit Hugo Young dies

Hugo Young, chairman of the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian and Observer newspapers has died aged 64, after a long illness.

He was Britain's foremost Left-wing political commentator.

As such, Tony Blair might have expected him to be a big supporter, but instead he called for the Prime Minister's resignation over the David Kelly affair.

Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, paid tribute saying: "Hugo was, simply, a towering figure in British journalism.

"His twice-weekly Guardian column was, over almost 20 years, the sharpest, bestinformed and most humane political column in any newspaper in this country.

"He was also a wise, tireless and enlightened chair of the Scott Trust, which exists to protect and nurture the Guardian and Observer. To lose him at the peak of his powers is a shattering blow for us and for his family."

Over the Kelly case, Mr Young accused the Government of being "willing to abandon all sense of proportion to score political points against its critics". He said that Mr Blair and Alastair Campbell undertook "an exercise in hyperbole that soon swept every available particle of state power into the defence of their integrity".

Mr Young leaves a wife, the artist Lucy Waring, one son and three daughters.

A private family funeral is be held later this week.