Ms Walley added Mr Fisher was devoted to the North Staffordshire area, and although his background made him an “unlikely candidate as a Stoke-on-Trent politician, you couldn’t fault him for his service to the Labour party”.
She said he had been very principled, and would be remembered by many for bringing government investment to the city during the Blair years.
He had also laid the groundwork for Labour policy on arts and culture, she added.
Mark Fisher spent a year on the front bench as arts minister in Tony Blair’s government, before being sacked for rebelling on a vote on the Competition Act.
His commitment to the arts started before he became an MP, when he worked to set up the New Vic Theatre in Newcastle-under-Lyme.
