Memorial service to be held for former chancellor Alistair Darling at St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Edinburgh

The life of former chancellor Alistair Darling will be remembered at a memorial service in Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Harry Potter author JK Rowling, former prime minister Tony Blair and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf were among mourners attending St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in the capital.

It comes after the long-serving Labour MP died last month aged 70.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, former party leader Ed Miliband and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar were also in attendance.

Darling served as a Labour MP from 1987 to 2015 and was chancellor during the financial crisis of 2008.

After holding a series of UK Government posts, including transport secretary and Scottish secretary in the Blair administration, Darling was appointed chancellor when Brown took over at Number 10 in 2007.

Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling. Peter Macdiarmid / Staff via Getty Images

He retired from the House of Lords in 2020 just five years after being appointed a life peer.

Describing Darling as a “statesman of unimpeachable integrity whose life was defined by a strong sense of social justice”, Brown said: “I, like many, relied on his wisdom, calmness in a crisis and his humour.”

The two men also worked together in Better Together, the cross-party campaign set up to keep Scotland in the UK in the run-up to the 2014 independence referendum, which Darling chaired.

Brown said Darling had been “resolute and courageous in making the case for Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom”.

After leaving the House of Commons, Darling joined the House of Lords, but retired five years after being made a life peer.

He is survived by his wife, the former journalist Margaret McQueen Vaughan, and their two children.