Sir Edward Heath, former prime minister and Britain's great European champion, has announced he will retire from the House of Commons at the next election.
The 84-year-old Father of the House, who presided over Monday's arduous election of the new Speaker, said yesterday he was "immensely proud" to have been returned by the electorate of Bexley Heath at every general election since February 23rd, 1950.
The Prime Minister, Mr Blair, praised Sir Edward's contribution over half a century. "It was Sir Edward who took this country into the European Community and he can be justly proud of that," said Mr Blair.
The Conservative leader, Mr William Hague, paid lavish tribute to Sir Edward despite his sometimes withering disdain for his Euro-sceptical leadership. "Ted Heath's retirement from the Commons at the next election will leave a gap that no one can fill. In 50 years' unbroken service as a member of parliament he has served as chief whip, leader of the opposition and prime minister.
"As `Father of the House' he has presided over the election of two speakers and, as a parliamentarian, he still commands the attention of the whole chamber with his wit and wisdom whenever he speaks," he said.
In the popular mind Sir Edward may possibly be remembered best for "the longest sulk in history", after Mrs Margaret Thatcher wrested the Tory leadership from him in 1975 following his defeat in the "Who Governs Britain?" election the previous year.
In 1989 he declared: "Whatever the lady does is wrong. I do not know of a single right decision taken by her."
And on another occasion he famously declared: "Winston Churchill would be appalled at the Thatcher government."
But the crowning achievement of the one-term prime minister was to take Britain into the Common Market, signing the Treaty of Accession in Brussels on January 22nd, 1972.
His period in office following his surprise victory over Harold Wilson in 1970 also coincided with momentous events in Northern Ireland.
To the present time the former prime minister is embroiled in the controversy surrounding the events of Bloody Sunday on January 30th of the same year.
He was the prime minister who suspended the Stormont parliament two months later, and who saw the essential architecture of his Sunningdale Agreement of December 1973 restored in the Belfast Agreement almost 25 years later.