"Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life.”
Kate Garraway shared this heartbreaking tribute to her husband Derek Draper, who passed away on Friday morning, nearly four years after he was first diagnosed with Covid-19.
In an Instagram post on January 5, the Good Morning Britain presenter Garraway, said: “I’m sad to have to tell you all that my darling husband Derek has passed away.
“As some of you may know he has been critically ill following a cardiac arrest in early December which, because of the damage inflicted by Covid in March 2020, led to further complications.
“Derek was surrounded by his family in his final days and I was by his side holding his hand throughout the last long hours and when he passed.”
She added: “Sending so much love and thanks to all of you who have so generously given our family so much support. Rest gently and peacefully now Derek, my love, I was so lucky to have you in my life.”
After falling into a coma and being put on a ventilator, Draper had spent 13 months in hospital – making him Britain’s longest-suffering coronavirus victim.
He started out as a Labour Party political lobbyist and spin-doctor, but the "Lobbygate" scandal saw him step away from the political limelight and retrain as a psychotherapist.
Tributes have poured in from the likes of Sir Tony Blair, Sir Elton John, Alistair Campbell, Lorraine Kelly and Gordon Brown, describing him as "very special" and a "huge character".
While Draper's extraordinary battle with coronavirus had been the media's main focus in the last few years of his life, it was his long career in politics and almost two decades long fairytale romance with Garraway for which he is primarily known.
Early lobbying days and an unlikely run-in with Ken Livingstone at university
Draper, who was from Chorley in Lancashire, was a Labour Party lobbyist for almost a decade and a prominent figure within New Labour.
While studying at Manchester University, Draper had his first unlikely brush with Labour Party politics, after letting Ken Livingstone have a sit down in his flat, after the former London Mayor missed his train.
“[Livingstone] still tells the story of when he came to speak to Manchester University Labour Club and missed his train, resulting in a trip to my student flat for a cup of tea — where, in pride of place on my wall, was a big poster of Roy Hattersley,” Draper wrote in the New Statesman in 1999.
At around this time, Draper first met author and journalist Charlotte Raven, who was also studying at Manchester and a Labour Party activist, and the pair went on to date.
He began his political career in 1990, when he became the constituency secretary for Labour MP Nick Brown.
Two years later, he went on to work as a researcher for famed spin doctor Peter Mandelson, before becoming the director of lobbying firm GPC Market Access in 1996.
"Lobbygate" and LabourList scandals
It was while working at GPC that Mr Draper was involved in the “Lobbygate” scandal that would ultimately lead to his exit from politics.
In one of the first sleaze scandals to hit Tony Blair’s administration, Draper was caught on tape boasting to an undercover journalist of his ability to sell access to government ministers.
He reportedly said: “There are 17 people who count in this government, and to say I am intimate with all of them is the understatement of the century.”
Following his involvement in the "Lobbygate" scandal, Draper was sacked from his role as a columnist at the Daily Express and generally exiled by Labour insiders.
In an article for the New Statesman, Draper wrote that he suffered from bouts of clinical depression in the Nineties, and sought therapy to help him cope.
He then retrained as a psychotherapist, but returned to the Labour spotlight in 2008 as the head of the website LabourList, a news website supportive of, but independent of, the Labour Party.
The following year, he was forced to step down as editor after email correspondence between him and Damian McBride, one of Gordon Brown’s key aides, was leaked.
In the emails, McBride suggested a campaign of unfounded personal smears against senior Conservatives on a new blog called RedRag, which Draper praised as “absolutely, totally brilliant”.
In a resignation statement released to the Guardian, Draper acknowledged that his continued presence at LabourList – which was originally set up to discuss serious policy ideas – was detracting from the website.
“I regret ever receiving the infamous email and I regret my stupid, hasty reply. I should have said straight away that the idea was wrong,” he said.
“I do ask people to remember that its contents were never published by me, or anyone else, involved in the Labour Party and they would never have seen the light of day were it not for someone hacking into my emails and placing them into the public domain.
“Because of that, a silly idea ultimately destined for the trash can became a national scandal.”
After leaving politics, Draper went on to become chief executive of a leadership consultancy, compiling weekly emails summarising the best content for business and HR leaders.
He wrote an occasional column for the Mail on Sunday newspaper on psychotherapy issues, and is also the author of two books, Blair's 100 Days and Life Support. In 2019 he announced he was resigning his Labour Party membership.
Kate and Derek: from a blind date to a two-decades long romance
The couple first met back in 2004, after being introduced by their mutual friend and then political editor of GMTV, Gloria De Piero.
“We met at the home of Carlo Romano [of GMTV]. He thought we were meeting for a blind date, whereas I didn’t have a clue. We got on really well and chatted through the night. But if I’d have known we were set up I’d have been very reluctant to go along,” she told the Mirror in 2006.
Speaking to The Times, she added: “Derek arrived thinking it was a date and that I was being incredibly cool by ignoring him.”
Derek, meanwhile, said: “During dinner I realised how fiercely intelligent she is. She has this way of listening to arguments, undermining them, adding something, and summing up in such a clever, undemanding manner.”
But when she did agree to go on a formal date, things didn’t quite go to plan.
“He asked me out, but the day of our date called to say he had a clash,” she said.
“He’d promised to serve wine at an amateur watercolour painting exhibition at his church. I really thought it was a wind-up. But I turned up and he was indeed serving wine to the congregation in a salmon-pink jumper.”
ââDerek thought he might have ruined his chances, but it soon became clear that they both had feelings for each other.
From there, the relationship took off very quickly. The following year, Draper proposed while the couple were on holiday in Egypt.
“I was ready to settle down by then and it all happened fast, but I was aware that she was 36 and I didn’t want to mess her around because I knew she wanted kids,” Draper told the Mirror. “But it wasn’t all logical — I’d fallen very much in love with her — although we’d already worked out that we have always had the same views about what we wanted a home to be.”
They married on September 10, 2005, in a low key ceremony at St Mary’s Parish Club in Chorley. However, Garraway recalls being shocked by seeing former Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole there, only to then discover that her husband had taken dancing lessons with him in preparation for the big day.
"Hilariously, Brendan Cole was at the wedding, years before I did Strictly Come Dancing,” Kate told The Times. “I assumed he was someone's boyfriend, but Derek had secretly been having dancing lessons with him. Derek is like that: when he wants to learn something, he studies it until he can do it perfectly."
Unbeknownst to the wedding guests, GMB star Garraway was three months pregnant with her daughter, Darcey, on the couple’s wedding day, who was born in March the following year. Their second child, William, arrived three years later in 2009.
Britain’s longest suffering coronavirus victim
In March 2020, both Draper and Garraway contracted coronavirus.
The following month, a spokesperson for Garraway disclosed distressing news: her partner had been hospitalised and placed in intensive care.
After ten weeks, and with Derek's condition deteriorating, medical experts took the difficult decision to induce a coma to bolster his body's defenses against the effects of the virus.
The following month he had opened his eyes, but remained in hospital in a serious condition.
Meanwhile, Garraway was always steadfast in her support. She revealed that regularly spoke to him and played music to him via video call, but was unsure if he could hear her.
Their 15th anniversary, once earmarked as the date to renew their wedding vows, was a poignant reminder of the couple’s separation – they marked the occasion on FaceTime.
A year after first contracting Covid, Draper finally returned home on a trial basis in April 2021. But his body had been devastated by the virus, and he was still receiving round-the-clock care and sleeping 20 hours a day.
Despite receiving treatment in Mexico in February and March 2022, Kate revealed in April of the same year that Draper was struggling to speak: "He can understand, sometimes do odd words, but can't express himself.”
In 2022, Kate opened up about how she had to find “new ways” to form a close bond. "When you nearly lose someone, it certainly brings everything into sharp focus," she told Good Housekeeping.
"In many ways, we're still learning how we are as man and wife, as so much has changed. It's the same for the children - they're having to relearn the experience of being with their dad. And, of course, the biggest learning is for poor Derek."
The family's experience of adjusting to a new way of life due to Derek’s condition was chronicled in the ITV documentary Finding Derek, which went on to win a National Television Award.
‘A huge character’ – Elton John, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown lead tributes
A few weeks before Christmas 2023, Garraway cancelled all work commitments after her husband suffered a “massive heart attack” and was left fighting for his life.
On January 5, Garraway announced that Draper had passed away.
In a statement on social media, she also said she had “so much more to say” and would do so in due course, but wanted to “thank all the medical teams who fought so hard to save him and to make his final moments as comfortable and dignified as possible”.
In a tribute to Draper, Sir Tony Blair said in a statement: "I am so sad to hear the news about Derek. My heart goes out to Kate and their children William and Darcey.
"It is extraordinary and remarkable that Derek survived so long after the ravages of Covid. And that was in large measure due to the love Derek had for his family and they for him. This also says something very special about Derek.
"He was a tough sometimes ruthless political operative, a brilliant adviser and someone you always wanted on your side. But underneath that tough exterior he was a loving, kind, generous and good natured man you wanted as a friend.
Sir Tony added: "He was an important part of the New Labour story, at the centre of things right at the beginning. But most important of all, he was a good colleague and great friend. And we will miss him deeply."
Alastair Campbell, a fellow prominent New Labour figure, described Draper as “a huge character”.
After hearing news of Draper’s passing he said: “Very sad to hear the news about Derek Draper. He was a huge character, a giver not a taker, and had so much more to give before Covid took its toll.
“Sad above all for [Kate Garraway] and the children. Their love and support was profound and unshakeable to the end. RIP”.
Another former Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown, also tweeted: "So sad that after such a brave struggle Derek Draper has lost his life as a result of Covid. I will remember him as brilliant, creative and multitalented, and our thoughts are with Kate, Darcey and Billy."
Sir Elton John said: "So sorry to hear of this news, Kate. Love and thoughts to you and your family x."
Commenting on Garraway's Instagram post, ITV presenter Lorraine Kelly said: "So sorry Kate. You fought so hard. Just incredibly sad. Sending you love".
Good Morning Britain host Susanna Reid wrote: "Our whole hearts are with you all."
