Tributes paid as ex-Conservative MP Sir Peter Fry dies Published duration 16 May 2015

image copyright PA image caption Sir Peter Fry, seen here in 1976, died on 11 May at the age of 83

Tributes have been paid to former Conservative MP Sir Peter Fry who has died at the age of 83.

Sir Peter, who had been ill for a year, was MP for Wellingborough and Rushden, in Northamptonshire, for 28 years from 1969 until his defeat by Labour in 1997.

In government he was notable as an expert on transport issues.

Current Wellingborough Conservative MP Peter Bone said Sir Peter remained "extremely well thought of".

"When I was canvassing in the last election, people were still talking about him. They absolutely loved how he helped them and he was a highly-regarded local MP," Mr Bone said.

image copyright PA image caption Sir Peter Fry with his first wife Edna in 1969

"He stood up for what was right rather than what the party line was. In those days - the John Major years - it was much more difficult to stand up against the party machine. He had strong views on Europe."

'Very approachable'

Sir Peter started his career as an insurance broker, joining the Wycombe Young Conservatives in 1949 and the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1951.

He went on to become a Conservative councillor on Buckinghamshire County Council between 1961 and 1967.

Wellingborough mayor-elect Barry Graves also paid tribute to Sir Peter, remembering him as a "very strong constituency MP".

"I remember going out and canvassing with him and he would go everywhere. He knew the area and the people. He was very much a man of the local constituency."

He was "a very approachable man", Mr Graves added.

Sir Peter was knighted in 1994.