Gordon Brown led mourners in fond tribute to Michael Foot at the funeral of the former Labour leader, who died aged 96.
The Prime Minister hailed the man famed for his dazzling oratory and fiery debating skills - but who nevertheless led his party to electoral disaster in 1983 - as "one of the greatest parliamentarians ever".
Mr Brown was speaking as a host of senior Labour figures past and present joined friends and 60 family members for the non-religious service at London's Golders Green Crematorium.
Mr Foot died at his Hampstead home on March 3.
About 160 gathered in the austere red-brick West Chapel to hear Mr Brown declare "he was one of the most elegant of orators, one of the greatest parliamentarians ever - so many talents".
The Prime Minister paid tribute to "a life lived in the service of the greatest of progressive causes" and added: "We mourn today for one of our own."
Mr Brown said the depth of loss at Mr Foot's passing went far beyond the chapel and "throughout our country and beyond". He went on: "He graced the country and for those of us privileged to know him, he graced all of our lives."
Mr Brown recalled taking his son John to see Mr Foot, who promised him "a little present".
It turned out to be a first edition of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
The premier closed his contribution by quoting a passage from Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress: "I do not repent me of what trouble I have been at, but arrive where I am, my marks and scars I carry with me".
