British politician Leon Brittan, a trusted minister under Margaret Thatcher and former European commissioner who lately became the focus of lurid claims, has died aged 75, his family said Thursday. "Leon passed away last night at his home in London after a long battle with cancer," said the statement. "We shall miss him enormously. "As a family, we should like to pay tribute to him as a beloved husband to Diana and brother to Samuel, and a supportive and loving stepfather to Katharine and Victoria, and step-grandfather to their children."
Brittan served as an MP between 1974 and 1988 and held four different ministerial positions in Thatcher's administration, becoming the youngest home secretary since Winston Churchill in 1983.