Lord Biffen of Tanat, the former Conservative Cabinet minister once famously described as "semi-detached" from Margaret Thatcher's government, died today in hospital, his family said. He was 76.

As John Biffen, the former MP for Shropshire North was Leader of the House of Commons for five years under Mrs Thatcher’s premiership. He also served as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and Trade Secretary.

It was Bernard Ingham, Mrs Thatcher's press secretary, who coined the phrase that Lord Biffen - a critic of the harsher aspects of Mrs Thatcher's social policies, who committed the unforgiveable political sin of predicting on radio that his leader would not survive the next parliament - was a “semi-detached” member of the Thatcher Cabinet.

After he was sacked following the 1987 election, he described serving under Mrs Thatcher as a "sort of Stalinist regime", and his former boss as "a tigress surrounded by hamsters”.

Nicholas Wood, his stepson, said that Lord Biffen, who was a dialysis patient, died at 5am at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after being taken into hospital on Saturday suffering with septicaemia.

Mr Wood said that his stepfather had “remained above the fray” in the world of party politics.

He said: “I think he was, unusually perhaps for a politician, an extremely sensitive man. He was respected by people from all political backgrounds.

“For somebody who had risen so high, he was not very ambitious. He was always prepared to put his principles before his political ambitions.”

Lord Biffen is survived by his wife Sarah, his stepson Mr Wood and his stepdaughter Lucy Eggleton.

Lord Heseltine, a former colleague, said that Lord Biffen had been ill for a long time, but that his death was "very sad indeed".

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "John was not what you would call a party politician; he wasn’t in the business of scoring easy points. He was a very cerebral politician, he had a very fine mind and... a very original mind.

"I remember very vividly in Cabinet: by and large you know what people are going to say, because they are going to take the departmental brief, but you could never tell when he started to speak where his conclusion was going to be."

He said the "semi-detached" tag was a reflection of Lord Biffen’s ability to see and understand both sides of an argument. "Although John did have very strong views, it has to be said, he was one of the original Powellite politicians."

Harriet Harman, the current Leader of the House of Commons, paid tribute to her predecessor, praising him as a "great" Leader of the House. "At the height of Thatcherism, he made all Members of Parliament - even those of us in opposition - feel he was our Leader of the House too," she said.

David Cameron, the current Tory leader, said: “John Biffen was a thoughtful and principled politician. He was also a great House of Commons man and was liked and respected across all parties."

Owen Paterson, who took over Lord Biffen’s North Shropshire seat when he stood down in 1997, said his predecessor had been an exceptional man.

"He was MP for North Shropshire for 35 years and people of all parties and all interests owe him a great debt," he said.

"He was greatly admired as a constituency MP for his conscientious hard work, his judgment and his kindness to all regardless of their political affiliation."

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