A FORMER home secretary who fought an election in Farnworth has died.

Lord Waddington, who served in government under Margaret Thatcher and was also governor of Bermuda, died on Thursday evening at the age of 87.

He contested the Farnworth constituency at the 1955 general election, before later being elected in the seats of Nelson and Colne, Clitheroe, and Ribble Valley.

He succeeded Douglas Hurd as home secretary and led the Home Office at the time of the poll tax riots and the Strangeways prison disturbances in the spring of 1990.

He was elevated to the peerage by John Major, and served in his government as Leader of the Lords from 1990 to 1992, when he was appointed governor of Bermuda.

In 2008, he successfully introduced what became known as the Waddington Amendment to protect “the discussion or criticism of sexual conduct or practices” from being covered by legislation outlawing hate crime on grounds of sexual orientation.

He is survived by wife Gillian, with whom he had three sons and two daughters.