14 Facts About Leo Blair

Leo Blair was the father of Tony Blair, a former prime minister of the United Kingdom, and William Blair, a High Court judge.

On 2 June 1927, his biological parents married and tried to reclaim him, but Mary Leo Blair refused to return him and later prevented him from contacting his birth parents.

Leo Blair grew up in a tenement in Golspie Street, Govan, Glasgow, and attended Govan High School.

Leo Blair was secretary of the Scottish Young Communist League from 1938 to 1941.

Leo Blair next worked briefly in the Glasgow City Public Assistance Department before enlisting in the Royal Corps of Signals for service in the Second World War in 1942; he was demobilised with the acting rank of major in 1947.

Leo Blair studied law at the University of Edinburgh, becoming a barrister and later, a university law lecturer.

Leo Blair married Hazel Elizabeth Rosaleen Corscadden from a Protestant family in County Donegal, Ireland.

Leo Blair was a member of St Cuthbert's Society, one of the university's collegiate bodies.

Leo Blair had ambitions to stand for Parliament in Durham, hoping to become a candidate in the 1964 general election, which were thwarted when he suffered a stroke in 1963 at the age of 40.

Leo Blair joined the Labour Party when his son became its leader in 1994, citing pride at his son's achievements, his dissatisfaction with the Conservatives under John Major and his objection to railway privatisation.

Leo Blair had previously been "a huge supporter" of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Leo Blair remarried and lived in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, with his second wife, Olwen, until her death on 15 March 2012.

Leo Blair was a "militant atheist", according to his son Tony.

Leo Blair died in Shrewsbury aged 89 on 16 November 2012.