No hymns, but a stirring rendition of The Red Flag; no Bible readings, but instead the writers he so admired, from Cicero to Byron.

Socialism and literature, not to mention his beloved Plymouth Argyle FC — the Pilgrims — were the passions of Michael Foot and, as mourners at his funeral yesterday were reminded, they could crop up in the most unusual combinations.

Peter Jones, former vice-chairman of the club, told mourners at Golders Green Crematorium how he and a friend once took the former Labour leader to a match at Selhurst Park. “We turned up at the away end,” the friend wrote. “Michael was asked if he had an offensive weapon on him, at which point he produced a battered copy of Milton’s Selected Works out of his coat pocket and gave the steward a lecture about how the poetry of Milton had been one of the most important weapons in English history. We got in.”

The funeral was a freeze frame of Labour history. Harold Wilson’s widow, Mary, was there, and mourners also included Gordon Brown, Lord Kinnock, Cherie Blair – her husband is away – and Alastair Campbell.

Mr Brown described Mr Foot as “one of the finest of writers, one of the keenest of journalists, one of the most eloquent of orators, one of the greatest parliamentarians . . . Michael decided to bring these talents to bear not for himself but for others. A life that spanned almost a century, a life lived in the service of the greatest of progressive causes.”

Mr Foot’s oratory was, however, not necessarily what it seemed. Lord Kinnock recalled: “In the wake of one pyrotechnic bout I complimented Michael on the effectiveness of his rhetorical pauses and said that maybe he should have been an actor. ‘No good,’ he said. ‘Those pauses aren’t dramatic ... they are asthmatic.’ ”

Mr Brown recalled how his wife had taken their son John to see Mr Foot. The house in Hampstead was, as usual, “covered in books”. Mr Foot said he had a little gift for John. “He went rooting through one of his piles of books: only for Michael could a little gift mean a first edition of Gulliver’s Travels.”

The coffin was draped with a Plymouth Argyle scarf. Mr Foot, who died this month at the age of 96, had attended his first match in 1921, Mr Jones said.

Lord Kinnock, who succeeded Mr Foot as Labour leader after the disastrous election defeat of 1983, spoke of the factionalism that split the party. Describing Mr Foot’s agreement to seek the leadership, at 67, as “his most self-sacrificing act in a life free of selfishness”, Lord Kinnock said he had been among those against him standing because he thought he would be submitting himself to “endless torture”.

“In reality, he was submitted to agony as the self-indulgence of some on the Left and desertion by some on the Right enfeebled Labour, gave comfort to Thatcher, generated poisonous treatment by the press, and crucified Michael Foot. Even Michael’s gigantic capacity for forgiveness was stretched.

“And yet, when we recognise the fact that Labour survived as a political entity because of his resilience, even Michael’s most vitriolic enemies would have to concede that his dedication, endless patience and raw courage saved the party from terminal division and dissolution.”