The former lord chancellor Lord Falconer has told how he has lost five stone on a regime of apples and Diet Coke.

The 62-year-old Labour peer has come down from 16st 6lb (104 kg) two years ago to 11st 5lb (72 kg) now, the Sunday Times reported.

Lord Falconer told the newspaper: “I go without breakfast and lunch. I live on apples during the day and then have a normal dinner.”

He manages a five-mile jog in just 45 minutes most days and has also given up alcohol, plus coffee and tea.

He said: “The big downside consequence is that I have become addicted to Diet Coke. I might drink eight or nine of them a day.

“I was pleased to see that the EU, after much deliberation, has decided that they don’t cause cancer.”

He decided to lose weight because he was “just so fat”, as lawyers eat the whole time, he said.

“I just thought: you’re about to fall over a cliff. There will be no going back. You’ll be fat for ever. I felt between 1997 and 2007 that I was the only new Labour minister who would drink at lunchtime.”