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| Ex-Tory minister Lord Biffen dies | Ex-Tory minister Lord Biffen dies |
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| Former Conservative Cabinet minister Lord Biffen has died, aged 76, his family said. | Former Conservative Cabinet minister Lord Biffen has died, aged 76, his family said. |
| Lord Biffen served in Margaret Thatcher's first two governments but was sacked in 1987, when he was famously described as "semi-detached." | |
| He died on Tuesday in Shrewsbury after being admitted to hospital on Saturday with septicaemia. | |
| Former colleague Lord Heseltine said he was a "cerebral" politician who was liked by all parties. | |
| A Eurosceptic and early disciple of Enoch Powell, Lord Biffen had a reputation as an honest and independent-minded politician. | |
| His opposition to state intervention in economic policy and championing of tight fiscal policy prevented his advancement under Edward Heath but helped his promotion under Margaret Thatcher. | |
| 'Fine mind' | |
| Lord Heseltine, a friend since the 1950s, paid tribute to Lord Biffen as a balanced and "reasonable" politician. | |
| "John was not what you'd call a sort of party politician. | |
| "He wasn't in the business of scoring the easy points. He was a very cerebral politician, he had a very fine mind and he thought a great deal - and a very original mind," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. | |
| Lord Biffen had been the MP for Oswestry from 1961 to 1983 when he won a by-election, then for Shropshire North from 1983 to 1997 when he was given a peerage. | |
| He became chief secretary to the Treasury in 1979, moving on to be trade secretary in 1981 and then leader of the House of Commons until 1987. | |
| 'Clear opinions' | |
| Lord Biffen was famously called a "semi-detached" member of the Cabinet by Margaret Thatcher's press secretary Bernard Ingham. | |
| He was dropped from the front bench after the 1987 general election. | |
| North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson also paid tribute to his predecessor, saying "he had clear opinions...fluently expressed, and a glorious sense of humour even in his last few years. | |
| "He was proud of being called 'semi-detached' by Bernard Ingham, retained his independence, and was true to his principles and core beliefs." | |
| He suffered kidney problems and had been on dialysis. Since 2005 he had been vice-chair of the All-party Parliamentary Kidney Group and was also a patron of the National Kidney Foundation. | |
| He is survived by his wife Sarah, stepson Nicholas Wood and stepdaughter Lucy Eggleton. | |
| Mr Wood said: "I think he was, unusually perhaps for a politician, an extremely sensitive man. | |
| "He was respected by people from all political backgrounds. | |
| "For somebody who had risen so high, he was not very ambitious. He was always prepared to put his principles before his political ambitions." |