Derek
Draper
1967-2024
Derek Draper, who has died aged 56, first came to public attention in the early 1990s, as a “buccaneering” New Labour aide with a talent for internecine warfare, said The Daily Telegraph. More recently, he has been known for his long battle with Covid. Infected in March 2020, he was put in an induced coma, and by the time he was brought out of it, ten weeks later, the virus had ravaged his heart, lungs and liver. When he finally went home, after 374 days in hospital, he could barely speak. Bed-bound, incontinent and fed via a tube, he required 24-hour care. His wife, the television presenter Kate Garraway, participated in two documentaries, which gave viewers a heart-wrenching glimpse of his suffering, and that of his family.…
