Sir Peter Tapsell death: Long-serving former Conservative MP dies aged 88

The ‘Father of the House’ spent more than 50 years in the Commons before standing down in 2015

The former Conservative MP Sir Peter Tapsell has died at the age of 88. Sir Peter was Father of the House in the Commons when he stood down at the 2015 general election.

The former stockbroker and merchant banker served under nine Conservative leaders.

He was personal assistant to Sir Anthony Eden during the 1955 general election campaign and first entered parliament in 1959 as MP for Nottingham West.

After losing his seat in 1964 he was elected as MP for Horncastle in 1966 and kept his seat in the area for the next five decades despite a series of constituency changes.

Craig Leyland, the chairman of the Louth and Horncastle Conservative Association, said that Sir Peter had served the constituency loyally and had never been afraid to speak his mind.

Sir Peter was a persistent critic of Margaret Thatcher’s economic policy and was named as the Tory MP to second Michael Heseltine’s nomination for the leadership of the Conservative Party in 1990. He was also one of the rebels who opposed the 1993 Maastricht Treaty.

In the aftermath of the riots in 2011 he called for those involved to be locked up in Wembley stadium.

When he stood down he was Britain’s longest-serving MP, ahead of Sir Gerald Kaufman, Kenneth Clarke, Michael Meacher and Dennis Skinner.

Additional reporting by Press Association.