The death of Alistair Darling is a grievous loss. British politics has lost a man of decency, character, integrity and humour. He was a good man, in a world where good men are scarce.

Darling’s most prominent role in politics was as chancellor to prime minister Gordon Brown from 2007 until 2010, a turbulent period defined by a global financial crisis and the related economic slump.

Not everyone who seeks or wins elected office, or supports the people who do, is nasty, cynical and underhand

Others will offer wider appraisals of Darling’s career, but I think that spell in Brown’s cabinet deserves close attention, not just because of what it tells us about the man himself but because of the importance of fairly and accurately remembering the past and the comparative record of public figures.

You’ll search in vain for a speech or interview from Darling talking about his own integrity or decency, but his actions were those of a man who always believed in behaving properly and respectfully  – and who demanded the same standards of others.

One story that always sticks in the memory was a Whitehall meeting where one of Brown’s most senior aides shouted angry abuse at one of Darling’s Treasury officials. Darling asked the aide to apologise. When that apology was not forthcoming, he calmly gathered up his papers and began to leave the room, declaring that the meeting was over because he would not tolerate such treatment of officials. After a long minute of angry staring, the Brown aide blinked and gave the apology.

That day, at least, Darling’s decency triumphed over the brutality of the Brown operation. That wasn’t always the case. Brown, who rarely misses an opportunity to talk about his values and moral compass, habitually licensed his aides to engage in vicious and venomous attacks on colleagues for any number of reasons. In Darling’s case, it was for telling the truth.

In 2008, he gave an interview to the Guardian in which he said that the approaching economic slowdown would be the worst for 60 years, adding: ‘I think it’s going to be more profound and long-lasting than people thought.’

Darling was, of course, absolutely right, though honesty about the economic outlook wasn’t part of the Brown team’s communications strategy and was not welcomed by the PM. That interview set off a prolonged campaign of briefings and whisperings from No 10 about Darling, his alleged failings, and how much better things would be if his job went to Ed Balls instead.

Some of the people involved in those backstabbing briefings now make a living talking about things like decency and integrity in British politics. No doubt they will also say nice things about Alistair Darling today too. Such is politics, you might think; a trade commonly thought of as one reserved for self-serving hypocrites, after all.

But not everyone who seeks or wins elected office, or supports the people who do, is nasty, cynical and underhand. Some people in politics, even at the highest levels, really are decent and fair and get into it for the right reasons  – to make things better for others, rather than to glorify themselves.

In that 2008 interview, Darling also talked about his distaste for the cosmetic aspects of politics, his lack of interest in photoshoots and the like. ‘I’m not a great politician,’ he said. He was wrong about that.