Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Our former Newsnight colleague Tony Howard was given a wonderful funeral service at St Mary Abbots church in Kensington this lunchtime.

Although Tony was the son of an Anglican vicar, and he regularly attended the church, he always had big doubts about the existence of God.

"He may have been an agnostic," said the presiding clergyman, Father Craig, "but he was a Church of England agnostic".

Among the politicians there were his former Oxford friend Michael Heseltine, Roy Hattersley, Mark Fisher, Betty Boothroyd, Tim Razzall, Chris Price, and the Education Secretary Michael Gove.

The Newsnight (and former Newsnight) contingent included Jeremy Paxman, Peter Barron, Tom Gardam, Peter Horrocks, Mark Damazer, Gill Hornby, Robert Harris, Peter Kellner, Carolyn Schindler, Jane Bonham-Carter, Sue Robertson and Lucy Hetherington.

Heseltine, Hattersley and Paul Johnson gave readings, while Robert Harris delivered a brilliant eulogy. For 25 years, he said, Tony Howard had been the voice over his shoulder, telling him whether what he had written was any good.

There may have been political journalists in the last 50 years with better historical knowledge, or better prose style, or shrewder judgement, said Harris, but none had the combination of all three.