MP's tribute as best friend dies

Lembit Opik said David Hamer didn't have "a bitter bone in his body"

Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has paid a warm tribute to his best friend, who has died suddenly.

The Montgomeryshire MP described David Hamer as an "impressive intellectual and bar room buddy", and said there "wasn't a bitter bone in his body".

Mr Hamer, 46, from Llandyssil, near Montgomery, Powys, was found dead in Borth, Ceredigion, on Wednesday where he had been camping.

Dyfed-Powys Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Mr Hamer was a lecturer at Deeside College in Flintshire and had previously worked at Coleg Powys in Newtown.

He was also a friend of Oscar-winning actress Julie Christie, and had lived in a house owned by the Hollywood star in the old county of Montgomeryshire.

Go easy my friend, though you left too soon Lembit Opik MP

Mr Opik, who learned of Mr Hamer's death on Wednesday afternoon, said his friend "was a man on two missions: to instil an appreciation of world music on a superficial public, and to inspire a sense of true political values to a population which prefers to vote for style not content".

Mr Opik said: "He was also a unique combination of impressive intellectual and bar room buddy.

"If you were down, he'd point out that 'suffering is inevitable, but misery is a choice'.

"And he'd do it with a gentleness of spirit which belied his heart, his warmth - there wasn't a bitter bone in his body."

He added: "He was my best friend from the year I met him to the day he died. Go easy my friend, though you left too soon."

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