Ex-UK finance minister Darling, who fought financial crisis, dies

By William Schomberg and Andrew MacAskill

LONDON (Reuters) -Former British finance minister Alistair Darling, who steered the country's economy and banking system through the shock of the global financial crisis in 2007-08, has died aged 70 after undergoing treatment for cancer, his family said on Thursday.

Darling was named chancellor of the exchequer by former prime minister Gordon Brown in June 2007, just as the crisis was brewing at leading financial institutions. The upheaval eventually sent Britain into what was then its deepest recession since World War Two.

The former lawyer oversaw the state rescue of British lender Northern Rock, tackling the first run on a retail bank in Britain since the 19th century, just a few months into the job.

In October 2008, he led a 37 billion-pound ($47 billion) government bailout of Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS to help them survive the credit crunch, effectively nationalising some of Britain's biggest banks in the process.

Darling was a member of parliament representing the centre-left Labour Party between 1987 and 2015 and he served as chief secretary to the Treasury and headed various ministries before being put in charge of the finance ministry by Brown.

"Mr Darling, the much-loved husband of Margaret and beloved father of Calum and Anna, died after a short spell in Western General Hospital under the wonderful care of the cancer team," his family said in a statement.

Born in 1953, Darling attended the private Loretto School on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland's oldest boarding school, before studying law at Aberdeen University. He worked as a lawyer in Edinburgh before becoming a barrister in 1984.

Labour leader Keir Starmer led the tributes.

"He will be remembered as the Chancellor whose calm expertise and honesty helped to guide Britain through the tumult of the global financial crisis," Starmer said in a statement.

Darling hit the headlines in August 2008, before the scale of the financial crisis was clear, when he was quoted by The Guardian newspaper as saying that the economic challenges "are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years ... and I think it's going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought".

The interview infuriated Brown who was wondering whether to call an election. In the end he called one in 2010.

Brown said he was deeply saddened by the death. "I, like many, relied on his wisdom, calmness in a crisis and his humour," he said.

In a sign of the broad respect commanded by Darling across the political spectrum, Britain's current finance minister Jeremy Hunt of the centre-right Conservative Party also paid his tributes.

"One of the great Chancellors, he’ll be remembered for doing the right thing for the country at a time of extraordinary turmoil," Hunt said.

($1 = 0.7906 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Muvija MWriting by William Schomberg; Editing by Kate Holton and Andrew Heavens)