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Derek Draper: Elton John and Tony Blair attend funeral service

PA Media Kate Garraway outside the funeral service of her husband Derek DraperPA Media
Kate Garraway, Derek Draper's wife, arrived at the church with her children

Kate Garraway has been joined by family, friends and stars including Sir Elton John at the funeral of her husband Derek Draper.

Sir Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer were also in attendance at the private service in London.

Draper had been living with extreme complications from Covid since contracting the disease in March 2020.

The author and former political adviser suffered a cardiac arrest in December and died in early January.

At the time, Garraway wrote about her "darling husband Derek" in a statement posted on Instagram.

In April last year, Sir Elton dedicated his song, Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me, to Garraway and Draper, who managed to attend his show at the O2 Arena in London.

PA Media Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish attending the funeral service of Derek DraperPA Media
Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish were among those paying their last respects

Draper and Garraway married in 2005 and they had two children together.

Garraway, who presents Good Morning Britain (GMB), greeted guests ahead of Draper being laid to rest.

They included her fellow GMB hosts, Ben Shephard, Richard Madeley and Susanna Reid. Former GMB presenter Piers Morgan was also in attendance.

PA Media Former prime minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie Blair attend the funeral service of Derek DraperPA Media
Former Labour prime minister Tony Blair attended the ceremony with his wife Cherie Blair
PA Media Myleene Klass attends the funeral service of Derek DraperPA Media
Myleene Klass attended the funeral service in North London

Broadcaster Richard Madeley and musician and broadcaster Myleene Klass also came to pay their last respects. Klass has previously stepped in to host Garraway's Smooth Radio show.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Alastair Campbell, former Labour spin doctor, were also seen arriving at the church in North London.

They were joined by former Labour MPs Lord Peter Mandelson and Tristram Hunt, who is now director of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

PA Media Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer attends the funeral service of Derek DraperPA Media
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was also in attendance

Other political figures, including former shadow chancellor Ed Balls and the shadow climate secretary Ed Miliband, were also at the ceremony.

Draper, who was from Chorley in Lancashire, was a Labour Party lobbyist for almost a decade.

He left politics in 1998 after being involved in the "Lobbygate" scandal in which he was caught on record boasting of his ability to sell access to government ministers.

PA Media Roman KempPA Media
Broadcaster Roman Kemp also attended the service

He retrained as a psychotherapist and wrote regularly in magazines and newspapers on psychotherapy issues. He is the author of two books, Blair's 100 Days and Life Support.

In 2009 he founded the LabourList website, a news website supportive, but independent of, the Labour Party.

After Draper died, Sir Tony was among those paying tribute to him, describing him as a "good colleague and great friend".