Alastair Brian Walden (8 July 1932 – 9 May 2019) was a British journalist and broadcaster who spent over a decade as a Labour politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He was considered one of the finest political interviewers in the history of British broadcasting, tenacious and ruthless. He won awards for broadcasting including the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award for television in 1986, and in 1991 was named ITV Personality of the Year. He was known for interviews of politicians, especially Margaret Thatcher. He was said to be her favourite interviewer, although he gave her tough interviews. Early life Born in West Bromwich, Walden was the son of a glassworker and attended West Bromwich Grammar School. He won an open scholarship to Queen's College, Oxford. In 1957 he was elected president of the Oxford Union. After Oswald Mosley was invited to speak at a debate held on 24 October 1957, Walden was asked by a fellow undergraduate why Mosley had been invited. He replied, "This society was founded many years ago to enshrine a very great principle, that of free speech. The society has had to fight against many authorities to ensure that minority points of view shall be put". Walden apparently "narrowly missed a first" in history in his finals. The following year he undertook a speaking tour of the United States with Stuart Griffiths, during which he took part in 47 debates. He completed a postgraduate degree at Nuffield College, Oxford before becoming a university lecturer. Political career Walden unsuccessfully contested the safe Conservative constituency of Oswestry in the 1961 by-election, coming third for Labour. At a debate at the Oxford Union held on 11 June 1964, Walden caused uproar by calling Lord Beaverbrook, who had died two days previously, "evil and repellent" and for attacking the "evil and despicable influence" of his Express group of newspapers. At the 1964 general election Walden was elected MP for Birmingham All Saints in an election where race dominated the Birmingham campaign. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1966 and 1970. When All Saints was abolished, Walden sought and gained the Labour nomination for Birmingham Ladywood, and was elected there in February 1974 and October 1974. In the aftermath of Enoch Powell's November 1968 Eastbourne speech advocating the repatriation of immigrants, Walden urged Prime Minister Harold Wilson not to waver in his opposition to Powell's proposals: "If the Government