Former Defence Secretary John Nott dies aged 92

Sir John Nott, who served as Conservative defence secretary during the Falklands War, has died aged 92.

Following the Argentine invasion of the South Atlantic islands, Sir John twice offered to resign.

Then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher refused to accept, and he stayed on until the conclusion of the war after which he stepped down to focus on his business interests.

During a political career that spanned almost two decades, he also worked in the Treasury and trade department, as well as representing the Cornish constituency of St Ives.

He returned to banking, a career he had pursued before entering Parliament, taking up the chairmanship at Lazard Brothers.

He continued some involvement in politics and in 1999, then-Conservative leader William Hague, put him in charge of a commission to opposed the UK adopting the Euro.

During the 2016 Brexit referendum, he quit the Conservative Party in protest at what he called a "tirade of fear" coming from then prime minister David Cameron.

Later in life he took up writing, producing not only a political autobiography but two further books about the "adventures of an old age pensioner".

Mr Wonderful Takes a Cruise and its sequel Mr Wonderful Seeks Immortality detail his trips to, among other places, Bromley, Balham and the nightclub Spearmint Rhino.

He is survived by his wife and three children including Sasha Swire, author of the memoir, Diary of an MP's Wife.

Swire paid tribute to her father in a social media post: "RIP my beloved father, John Nott, protector, politician, farmer, me."

Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said: "John Nott was an inspiring defence secretary and politician who stood up, alongside Margaret Thatcher, to aggression.

"His resolute determination to free British sovereign territory from tyranny is as important today as it was during the Falklands conflict."