The former deputy leader of the Conservative party Michael Ancram has died, aged 79, his family has announced. The 13th Marquis of Lothian, as he was formally known, died in hospital after a short illness, surrounded by close family.

After the Conservative defeat in 1997, Ancram became Tory chairman under William Hague and later served as deputy leader under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard until David Cameron took over in 2005.

ANTI-TRIDENT Tory grandee Michael Ancram has died at the aged 79. A chequered political career took the 13th Marquis of Lothian and hereditary chief of clan Kerr from an eight-month stint as MP for the family pile in Berwickshire and East Lothian between the elections of 1974, on to Edinburgh South in 1979.

Tributes have been paid to the “stable voice” of former deputy leader of the Conservative Party Michael Ancram, who has died aged 79.Mr Ancram, known formally as the 13th Marquess of Lothian, held the role under Iain Duncan Smith and Michael Howard for five years in the early 2000s.

Gibraltar has lost a friend in the House of Lords. Freeman of the City Michael Ancram died Tuesday after a short illness, aged 79. Michael Ancram was a former Deputy Leader and Chairman of the Conservative Party. As Shadow Foreign Secretary, he lobbied against the Joint Sovereignty proposal in 2002.

Michael Ancram, a leading aristocrat who became a Tory MP, senior government minister, party chairman, deputy leader and grandee, has died aged 79