This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Tributes have been paid to the former foreign secretary Peter Carrington, who has died at the age of 99.

The last surviving member of Sir Winston Churchill’s postwar government, Lord Carrington famously resigned from Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet in 1982, taking responsibility after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands.

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He chaired the Lancaster House talks in 1979, which led to the establishment of the state of Zimbabwe, and served as the secretary general of Nato from 1984-88.

The Eton-educated hereditary peer was a tank commander during the second world war, winning the Military Cross in the north-western Europe campaign.

He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1946 and went on to become the oldest and longest-serving member of parliament’s second chamber.

Downing Street described his death as “very sad news”, while the prime minister’s de facto deputy, David Lidington, paid tribute to “a career given to public service”.

The former prime minister David Cameron said: “Peter Carrington was a lovely man and a great public servant. It was a huge honour having him to Chequers and listening to his stories of working with every Conservative leader from Winston Churchill onwards. Kindness and brilliance in equal measure; he’ll be deeply missed.”

Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said she first met Carrington when he was the chancellor of Reading University where she was studying. “He was kind, encouraging and generous with his advice.”

Carrington’s death on Monday came on the same day as the resignations of Boris Johnson and David Davis – the first time two cabinet ministers quit within 24 hours of each other since Carrington and Humphrey Atkins resigned in 1982.