Tributes have been paid to longserving Pembrokeshire County Councillor Mike Stoddart, who has sadly passed away.

Mike’s wife, Vivien announced the news on Sunday (January 4) evening, sharing: “It is with great sadness that the Stoddart family announce that Mike passed away peacefully today at Withybush Hospital surrounded by his family.”

Known as ‘Old Grumpy’ through his blog, were he shared his musings about Pembrokeshire politics and thoughts on other aspects of local governance; Mike alongside his wife founded and ran the Milford and West Wales Mercury during the 1990s.

Fellow county councillor Tony Wilcox commented: “Been a privilege to have known him. County owes him a lot for uncovering the somewhat murkier side of local politics”, whilst Cllr Mark Carter remarked: “Very sad news, if ever there was a man who stuck his ground in what he believed in, it was Mike.”

County councillor Rhys Jordan, shared: “Pembrokeshire as a whole won’t be the same without Mike. I’ll miss his honesty, his late-night emails telling me to be more Tory, and of course his world-famous “Old Grumpy” blog.”

Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire Conservative Senedd Member, Samuel Kurtz said: “Deeply saddened to hear about the death of Cllr Mike Stoddart. Our paths crossed a number of times when I was a local journalist (mainly him teeing me up with some interesting gossip or goings-on from County Hall), but it wasn’t until I became a County Councillor myself in 2017 that I got to spend more time with Mike.

“It was in the tea room at County Hall where I would listen to Mike go into great detail explaining an issue, but never losing the audience’s understanding while doing so. It was here, too, that he would pull my leg, often saying, “you bloody Tories…”, with a smirk and a wink. But my word, did he know his politics, and he knew his own mind

“Mike was passionate, committed, and could be terrier-like on an issue or injustice, never giving in. My deepest condolences to Viv, Tessa, and all of Mike’s family and friends.”