Derek Draper, husband of Kate Garraway and former political adviser, dies after suffering long-lasting COVID symptoms

Published

2 years ago

January 5, 2024

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Derek Draper, a former political adviser and husband of TV presenter Kate Garraway, has died after several years of serious health complications due to coronavirus.

The 56-year-old was said to be one of the UK’s longest-suffering COVID patients, spending 13 months in hospital after contracting the virus in March 2020.

He was left with extensive damage to his organs and needed daily care.

Garraway posted a statement on Instagram this morning saying her “darling husband” had died and she had been “by his side holding his hand throughout his last long hours”.

She confirmed he suffered a heart attack in early December, adding that “the damage inflicted by COVID… led to further complications”.

“I have so much more to say, and of course I will do so in due course, but for now I just want 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,” she said.

“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.”

Garraway’s Good Morning Britain co-stars and other well-known faces shared their condolences under the Instagram post.

“Our whole hearts are with you all,” Susanna Reid said, while Charlotte Hawkins commented: “So desperately sorry Kate, it’s absolutely heartbreaking. So much love to you all.”

Sir Elton John said: “So sorry to hear of this news, Kate. Love and thoughts to you and your family x.”

Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, who Draper worked with in the 1990s, said he was “so sad” to hear about his death.

“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 said.

“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.”

Alastair Campbell, a fellow prominent New Labour figure, described Derek Draper as “a huge character”.

He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “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.”

A prominent figure in New Labour in the 1990s, Draper worked for Blairite Peter Mandelson and set up the Progress organisation with Liam Byrne, who went on to become an MP.

After he was embroiled in the so-called “cash-for-access” scandal, dubbed “lobbygate”, he travelled to the US, where he retrained as a psychotherapist.

Garraway and Draper married in 2005, and have two children together. They celebrated their 18th anniversary in September, with the presenter saying on Instagram that she was “so glad” he survived to see it.

Just a few days later, she published her book, The Strength Of Love: Embracing An Uncertain Future With Resilience And Optimism, chronicling the upending of life as she knew it when her husband fell ill.

“It’s a constant cycle of loving and losing, gratitude at surviving and grief for what’s been lost,” she said. “This book tells the story of how I am learning to find love and strength to help my family thrive and I hope what I have learned helps you to get through your own challenges.”

Garraway also made two documentaries about Draper’s health battle and his care, with both programmes winning National Television Awards in the authored documentary category.

In 2022, she shared a post on Instagram as the second show, Caring For Derek, received its nomination.

“The reason we made the documentary was to highlight carers, professional carers, and carers who are doing it for love and the tough challenges that that involves,” she said.

“As much as you don’t begrudge doing it, it’s very hard. You saw me frustrated, depressed, emotional, and I’ve been all of those and more in recent weeks and months.

“That’s the thing about caring; you want it to carry on because you want the person surviving and with you. But there isn’t an end point, and it doesn’t get any easier.”

Politics

Budget 2025: Over a third of Britons think Rachel Reeves exaggerated bad news

Published

2 hours ago

December 2, 2025

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Budget 2025: Over a third of Britons think Rachel Reeves exaggerated bad news

Over a third of people think Rachel Reeves exaggerated economic bad news in the run-up to the budget – twice as many as thought the chancellor was being honest, a new Sky News poll has found.

Some 37% told a YouGov-Sky News poll that Ms Reeves made out things were worse than they really are. This is much higher than the 18% who said she was broadly honest, and the 13% who said things were better than she presented.

This comes in an in-depth look at the public reaction to the budget by YouGov, which suggests widespread disenchantment in the performance of the chancellor.

Just 8% think the budget will leave the country as a whole better off, while 2% think it will leave them and their family better off.

Some 52% think the country will be worse off because of the budget, and 50% think they and their family will be worse off.

This suggests the prime minister and chancellor will struggle to sell last week’s set-piece as one that helps with the cost of living.

Some 20% think the budget worried too much about help for older people and didn’t have enough for younger people, while 23% think the reverse.

The poll found 57% think the chancellor broke Labour’s election promises, while 13% think she did not and 30% are not sure. Some 54% said the budget was unfair, including 16% of Labour voters.

And it arguably gets worse…

This comes as the latest Sky News-Times-YouGov poll showed Labour and the Tories are now neck and neck among voters.

The two parties are tied on 19% each, behind Reform UK on 26%. The Greens are on 16%, while the Liberal Democrats are on 14%.

This is broadly consistent with last week, suggesting the budget has not had a dramatic impact on people’s views.

However, the verdict on Labour’s economic competence has declined further post-budget.

Asked who they would trust with the economy, Labour are now on 10% – lower than Liz Truss, who oversaw the 2022 mini-budget, and also lower than Jeremy Corbyn in the 2019 election.

The Tories come top of the list of parties trusted on the economy on 17%, with Reform UK second on 13%, Greens on 8% and Lib Dems on 5%. Nearly half, 47%, don’t know or say none of them.

Only 57% of current Labour voters say the party would do the best job at managing the economy, falling to 25% among those who voted Labour in the 2024 election.

Some 63% of voters think Ms Reeves is doing a bad job, including 20% of current Labour voters, while just 11% of all voters think she is doing a good job.

A higher proportion – 69% – think Sir Keir Starmer is doing a bad job.

Politics

Atkins says SEC has ‘enough authority’ to drive crypto rules forward in 2026

Published

4 hours ago

December 2, 2025

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Atkins says SEC has 'enough authority' to drive crypto rules forward in 2026

Paul Atkins, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, said that the agency can continue advancing digital asset regulation without legislation from Congress, signaling his expectations for the industry in 2026.

In a CNBC interview released on Tuesday, Atkins said the SEC was providing “technical assistance” as Congress considered legislation for digital asset regulation, likely referring to the market structure bill working its way through the US Senate. Atkins said that although the agency’s operations were impacted by the longest US government shutdown in the country’s history, he continued to make progress on “rules that are focused on helping [the crypto] sector.”

“We have enough authority to drive forward,” said Atkins. “I’m looking forward to having an innovation exemption that we’ve been talking about now. We’ll be able to get that out in a month or so.”

*SEC Chair Paul Atkins speaking on Tuesday before the NYSE opening bell. Source:* *Vimeo*

Atkins, whom the US Senate confirmed to chair the SEC in April after his nomination by US President Donald Trump, has taken steps to reduce the number of enforcement actions against crypto companies, including by issuing no-action letters for decentralized physical infrastructure networks.

His actions align with many of the policy directives from the White House under Trump, who has issued several executive orders touching on crypto and blockchain.

The SEC chair rang the opening bell at the NYSE on Tuesday, outlining his plans for the agency “on the cusp of America’s 250th anniversary.”

US regulators are still awaiting progress on a market structure bill

Lawmakers on the US Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee are taking steps to move forward with a digital asset market structure bill, which will outline the regulatory authority of agencies, including the SEC and Commodity Futures Trading Commission, over cryptocurrencies.

Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott said that the committee planned to have the bill ready for markup in December.