Former Home Secretary Lord Brittan has died at the age of 75.
He passed away at his home in London last night after a long battle against cancer.
He served in a series of ministerial posts under Margaret Thatcher including Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Home Secretary and Trade and Industry Secretary, resigning from this job in 1986 over the Westland affair.
The former MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire was European Commissioner from 1989 for a decade before becoming a peer in 2000.
More recently he was forced to deny that as Home Secretary, from 1983 to 1985, he failed to act on a dossier of claims of alleged paedophiles within and around Westminster.
He insisted he had asked officials to probe the allegations.
A letter that he sent to Tory MP Geoffrey Dickens, who had given him the file, said the Director of Public Prosecutions had assessed that two letters in the dossier could form the basis for police inquiries and that they were being passed to the appropriate authorities.
Lord Brittan’s family said in a statement today: “It is with great regret that we announce the death of Leon Brittan.
“As a family, we should like to pay tribute to him as a beloved husband to Diana and brother to Samuel, and a supportive and loving stepfather to Katharine and Victoria, and step-grandfather to their children.
“We also salute his extraordinary commitment to British public life as a Member of Parliament, Minister, Cabinet Minister, European Commissioner and Peer - together with a distinguished career in law, and latterly in business.”
Commons Leader William Hague sent the House’s “deepest condolences” to his family.
