Conor O'Brien

In 1983 Conor O'Brien, who has died aged 77, was the Labour party candidate for the safe Conservative seat of Southend East; he came second, losing to the Scottish rightwinger Sir Teddy Taylor, during the high tide of Thatcherism.

Before that, in 1979, Conor had been the Labour Party's European election candidate for Essex. Yet national and European politics were not really Conor's stamping ground. It was on his adopted home turf in the county that he excelled.

A Basildon Labour party councillor throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he was also a busy leader of the council from 1975 to 1977. Conor was a tireless campaigner, promoting the arts and agitating for better council housing. In the late 1980s he was the driving force behind the recreation and leisure group responsible for setting up Basildon's ambitious and innovative Towngate Theatre. He was an enthusiastic believer in the educative power of the arts.

Conor was a twin in a family of four boys, and was born in the village of Drimoleague in west Cork. His father had fought alongside Michael Collins' forces in the Anglo-Irish war of independence, and later served as a district magistrate. Conor attended one of Ireland's leading schools, Farranferris Catholic seminary in Cork, where contemporaries included the composer Sean O'Riada.

In the early 1950s he moved to Dagenham, east London, and took a teacher-training course at what is now St Mary's University College in Twickenham. This led to a post at a local primary school, St Teresa's, in Vange.

In 1955 he married Joan, a miner's daughter from the north east. Summer holidays were usually spent in his beloved west Cork. They had two daughters, Debbie and Katherine.

Retirement saw the completion of many cherished projects, but the loss of Joan in 2005 led to the deterioration of Conor's health. A huge, generous personality, he was a staunch friend and a true socialist. He is survived by his two daughters and six grandchildren. Two brothers predeceased him.

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