Published: 03/09/2010 14:06 -
Updated: 03/09/2010 14:11
Former Attorney General and Bedfordshire MP Lord Lyell has died at the age of 71.
As Sir Nicholas Lyell, he was appointed solicitor general in 1987 and was made the government's top law officer in 1992.
As Sir Nicholas Lyell, he was appointed solicitor general in 1987 and was made the government's top law officer in 1992.
His family said he died peacefully last Sunday after living with cancer for 12 years.
Lord Lyell was first elected to Parliament in the Conservative landslide of 1979, when he won Hemel Hempstead from Labour.
He later represented Mid Bedfordshire from 1983 and North-East Bedfordshire from 1997 until he retired from the House of Commons in 2001.
Alistair Burt MP, who succeeded Lord Lyell as MP for the NE Bedfordshire, paid tribute to him: "It was a great honour to succeed Nick. I had known him since I entered Parliament in 1983 and he was invariably kind and encouraging to colleagues.
"He stood for decent and fair minded Conservative principles, and served both his constituency and country with great skill and distinction, putting his considerable legal powers at the service of Government.
"It has been a privilege to follow him in NE Bedfordshire, where I am regularly reminded of him by his well wishers, and all those he represented here and for whom he did so much.
"Politics and the country has sadly lost a good man, but we know his family has lost much more. My wife and I, and all in Bedfordshire, share the loss of Susanna (his wife) and her family."
The current Solicitor General, Edward Garnier also paid tribute to Lord Lyell.
He said: "Politics can be a tough and uncivilised way of life but Nick Lyell, the longest continuously serving Law Officer in the 20th century, showed grit and determination during some difficult times for the Conservative Government in the 1990's without ever becoming ill-mannered, critical of others, self-pitying or underhand.
"As his cancer began to take hold his determination to carry on as though he had a mild dose of 'flu and his utter lack of self-pity and complaint marked him as a far stronger man than his opponents ever imagined.
"He will have been sustained by the love and affection of his wife, children and grandchildren and the respect and admiration of his friends, of whom there were many."
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