Former Labour Party leader Michael Foot was found dead at his north London home this morning in a passing from this world that suggests foul play may have been involved. Mr Foot, who was elected Labour leader back in 1980, succeeding Jim Callaghan, was discovered in the early hours of this morning on the floor of his drawing room in Hampstead, under a rather weighty pile of mint condition 1983 Labour Party manifestos.

The nature of Mr Foot’s sudden passing from this world has fuelled some debate amongst investigators, with the word ‘suicide’ being thrown around more often than it would be in association with the word ‘bomber’ at an Al-Qaeda training camp. Inside one copy of the numerous 138-page manifestos that covered his still, cold body, crime scene investigators found a message written in rather tiny handwriting between the lines of the printed text. The contents of Mr Foot’s last scribblings have not yet been revealed due to matters of ‘national interest’. However, the powers that be have publicly confirmed that the note did span each line of each page of the lengthy 1983 manifesto, which was once ironically dubbed ‘the longest suicide note in history’ by smart-arsed journalist types.

‘He’s never recovered from suffering defeat at the hands of Margaret Thatcher and the Conservative Party back in 1983,’ commented Mr Foot’s mourning grandson. ‘He’s been trying to discredit Thatcher as a shemale who kills badgers and eats babies ever since. But to little or no avail. God rest his soul.’

Mr Foot was among other things known for being ‘a bit of a wordsmith’, having trained and then worked as a London-based journalist for many years. However, despite penning numerous works of non-fiction which have been published without turning even a handful of literary heads, it seems the late MP, alike other noble figures, may have achieved in death what he failed to achieve in life – notoriety for his writing.

Prime Minister and incumbent Labour Party leader Gordon Brown led the tributes, describing Mr Foot as the political equivalent of Tony Blair: ‘lovely guy, but useless politician’.

Announcing his death in the House of Commons at the opening of Prime Minister’s Questions this lunchtime, Justice Secretary Jack Straw compared one speech he gave in 1980 to a ‘Mozart concerto’, adding that he was ‘held in very great affection by all those who had forgotten to register to vote in time for the 1983 General Election’.