Former minister Lord John Horam has died aged 87 after falling while walking home from a day’s work at the House of Lords. His family said he died at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington after failing to regain consciousness, despite treatment from paramedics and hospital staff; his death marks the end of a long political career spanning Labour, the SDP and the Conservatives.

Born in Preston, Lord Horam studied economics at Cambridge and worked for Rowntree’s, the Financial Times and The Economist before entering politics. He represented Gateshead from 1970 to 1983 and Orpington from 1992 to 2010, served as a minister in Labour and Conservative governments, and became a life peer in 2013; he is survived by his wife Judith and stepsons Fraser and Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp.