Former Northern Ireland secretary Lord Merlyn-Rees has died aged 85.
Lord Merlyn-Rees, who served as Merlyn Rees in Labour Party governments of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan in the 1970s, died this morning in St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth, south London.
He had suffered a number of falls and lapsed into a coma from which he never regained consciousness, his family said.
He spent most of his 30 years in the House of Commons on the front bench, either in government or opposition, and his decision in the early 1980s not to seek re-election on to the shadow cabinet made him one of the most experienced and seasoned back-benchers on either side of the House.
He became Northern Ireland Secretary in 1974, taking over at a time when the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive had been in existence.
But the general election had produced a Unionist parliamentary victory opposed to the whole principle of power-sharing.
The great threat, therefore came from the combined political and military forces of the Loyalists. This led to the Loyalist strike during which he refused to talk to Loyalist workers yet also refused to act against them.
The mutual dislike between Mr Rees and the Rev Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist leader, reached a climax in 1975 when Mr Rees stormed out of a meeting with him and locked the door on him, after Dr Paisley accused him of cooking up a deal with the IRA.
PA