Thatcher era minister Brittan dies of cancer

Leon Brittan, a former senior minister in the government of Margaret Thatcher as well as vice-president of the European commissioner, has died from cancer, his family said.

Brittan, 75, was home secretary between 1983 and 1985 and was recently in the headlines over his handling then of a child abuse dossier said to implicate public figures.

“Leon passed away at his home in London after a long battle with cancer,” a family statement said.

Brittan was one of those hand-picked for promotion by Thatcher after her landslide re-election in 1983. At 43 he became the youngest home secretary in 70 years.

He hit the front pages once more last year. In July, lawmaker Simon Danczuk queried what Brittan had done with a dossier implicating public figures in child abuse that had been given to him in the early 1980s.

The following day, Brittan issued a statement saying he had dealt with them correctly by passing them on to police and officials for examination. However, the current top civil servant at the home office has revealed that 114 files handed to officials had gone missing, fuelling allegations of a cover-up.

A subsequent review concluded last November that there was nothing to substantiate these claims although the missing dossier could not been found.