POLITICAL legend Michael Foot was honoured in an emotional tribute at his funeral service which celebrated the great man and his biggest passions in life – politics, literature and football.

The proud Plymothian and Plymouth Argyle supporter was laid to rest yesterday to a stirring rendition of The Red Flag – more fitting than traditional hymns for a fierce socialist – as he was given a final farewell by family, friends and political leaders past and present.

Gordon Brown led mourners in fond tribute to Mr Foot, telling the congregation that the former Labour leader, who died aged 96, was "one of the greatest parliamentarians ever".

Mr Foot's great-nephew John Foot – son of the late investigative journalist Paul Foot – introduced the service during which friends, family and political colleagues lined up to pay their respects and tributes.

Close friend and former Plymouth Argyle vice-chairman Peter Jones told the congregation how he and a friend once took the former Labour leader to an away match at Selhurst Park, turning up at the away end.

"Michael was asked if he had an offensive weapon on him, at which point he produced a battered copy of Milton's Selected Works out of his coat pocket and gave the steward a lecture about how the poetry of Milton had been one of the most important weapons in English history. We got in."

Mr Jones said that for his 90th birthday, Mr Foot had been officially registered with the Football League as a player for the club, with the squad number 90.

In his address at the funeral Mr Jones said: "One of the great things for me was witnessing the affection in which he was held – and also the respect people showed. Michael drew much from Plymouth and from Plymouth Argyle, but what he gave back to the city and the football club, over his long life, was immeasurable."

Mr Brown hailed Mr Foot, famed for his dazzling oratory and fiery debating skills – but who nevertheless led his party to electoral disaster in 1983 – as a man of "so many talents".

A host of senior Labour figures past and present joined friends and 60 family members for the non-religious service at London's Golders Green Crematorium.

Mr Foot died at his Hampstead home on March 3.

About 160 gathered in the austere red-brick West Chapel to hear Mr Brown declare "he was one of the most elegant of orators, one of the greatest parliamentarians ever".

The Prime Minister paid tribute to "a life lived in the service of the greatest of progressive causes" and added: "We mourn today for one of our own."

The premier closed his contribution by quoting a passage from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: "I do not repent me of what trouble I have been at, but arrive where I am, my marks and scars I carry with me."

Neil Kinnock, who succeeded Mr Foot as Labour leader in 1983, hailed him as "brilliant and brave" in thought, word and deed.

Mr Foot's coffin was carried into the black-and-white marble-floored chapel draped in red roses and the scarf of his beloved Plymouth Argyle to the strains of Verdi's Va Pensiero, the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.

Squeezed into pews beside Mr Foot's family were Labour's Deputy Leader Harriet Harman, Chief Whip Nick Brown, Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, former Prime Minister's wife Cherie Blair, Wales Secretary Peter Hain, former Downing Street communications director Alastair Campbell, Foreign Office minister Baroness Kinnock and former union leaders Lord (Bill) Morris and Rodney Bickerstaffe.

Ex-ministers Frank Dobson, Mark Fisher and Michael Meacher were joined by veteran backbencher Dennis Skinner and arts broadcaster and Labour peer Lord (Melvyn) Bragg.

John Foot told the gathering: "Michael had a huge effect on all our lives and we will miss him terribly."

He paid special tribute to his great-uncle's carer Jenny Stringer – who had promised the former Labour leader's late wife Jill Craigie 10 years ago that she would look after him.

Following Mr Brown's tribute, the ex-editor of Tribune magazine Mark Seddon said of Mr Foot's passing: "It has deeply moved so many people up and down the land."

He stressed the late Mr Foot would have been urging Labour on to victory at this year's general election, saying: "He had real hope for what we can be again."

Mr Foot first entered Parliament as an MP for Plymouth in 1945 before switching to become MP for Ebbw Vale.

Another great-nephew, Tom Foot, declared: "It is a terrible thing waking up in a world without Michael Foot."