Francis Pym, the British foreign secretary during the 1982 Falklands War, has died at the age of 86, it was announced today.
Members of his family said the peer, who served as Margaret Thatcher's defence and foreign secretary during the late 1970s and early 1980s, died last night after a "prolonged illness".
Although he will be chiefly remembered for his role in the Falklands campaign, his opposition to Thatcherite economics made him a regular source of irritation to the prime minister.
He was sacked a year after the conflict, following the 1983 election, as part of the then prime minister's cull of so-called "wets" from her cabinet.
Seen as a "one nation" Tory, he regarded the monetarist policies of the day to be very hard on the poor.
Pym, who was educated at Eton and Cambridge, followed in the footsteps of his father when he became an MP.
He entered parliament as the MP for Cambridgeshire in 1961, representing the constituency for 22 years before it became Cambridgeshire South-East in 1983.
After holding this seat for the next parliament, he left office in 1987.
Pym served as Edward Heath's chief whip from 1970 to 1973, and was the Northern Ireland secretary from 1973 to 1974.
Thatcher made him defence secretary when the Tories returned to government in 1979, and he later became leader of the Commons.
Pym was made foreign secretary after Lord Carrington resigned in 1982 when Thatcher blamed him for not foreseeing the Falklands conflict.
He engaged in intensive shuttle diplomacy to prevent a conflict with Argentina, and although his efforts failed he stayed in charge of the ministry throughout the war.
Pym was slapped down by Thatcher when he suggested during the 1983 election that a landslide majority – predicted because of the enormous popularity of having won the Falklands War - might not necessarily produce a good government.