Tributes paid to former Northampton parliamentary candidate and Northamptonshire County Council political assistant Graham Mabbutt

Tributes have been paid to former Northampton parliamentary candidate and Northamptonshire County Council political assistant Graham Mabbutt.

Graham Mabbutt sadly passed away on Wednesday, June 22, 2022.

“West Northamptonshire Liberal Democrats are saddened to learn of the death of Graham Mabbutt. Graham was so well known to so many people in Northampton and our surrounding area and so well liked and respected,” said Andrew Simpson, Chair of West Northamptonshire Liberal Democrats. "Our sincere condolences to his daughters, family and friends."

Richard Church, who stood as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Northampton North at the same time as Graham Mabbutt was the candidate for Northampton South in the 1990s, said: “I first met Graham over thirty years ago, when he was selected as the candidate of a brand new party, the Liberal Democrats, for Northampton South, and I was the candidate for Northampton North. We didn't know each other before then, but we both had our long family lineages in Northampton. We came from different political backgrounds too, Graham from the Labour party, via the SDP, me from the Liberal party, but we rarely disagreed about anything important. We made a great team and I learned so much from him on bringing people together and building teams.

“Graham will be remembered for being kind and warm hearted to our fellow human beings… he did kindness in spades and he did much else too.”

Graham was a long-term and key member of the Bedford and Milton Keynes Waterway Trust and, more recently, a champion for the John Bunyan boat which has carried thousands of passengers on the River Great Ouse.

Graham had previously been agent for Bill Rogers in Milton Keynes, one of the famous SDP ‘Gang of Four’. Graham went on to become the councillor for Olney on Milton Keynes council, and a member of the cabinet there when the Lib Dems took control with Isobel McCall as leader. Later Graham returned to work in Northampton as the political assistant to the Lib Dem group on Northamptonshire County Council and briefly Northampton Borough Council.

Graham’s wife, Janet passed away in 2011 but he leaves behind him three daughters, Dawn, Karen and Jane, plus seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren.