Leon Brittan

Born: September 25, 1939;

Died: January 21, 2015.

Leon Brittan, Lord Brittan of Spennithorne, who has died of cancer aged 75, was a politician and former Cabinet Minister closely associated with Margaret Thatcher at the height of her power. Recently, he had also been at the centre of controversy over the investigation into allegations of child abuse in the 1980s.

Seen as a loyal Thatcherite, he was brought down by the Westland affair, a row over the future of the Westland helicopter company which led to the dramatic resignation of Michael Heseltine. Lord Brittan was forced to resign a few days later after it emerged that he had authorised the leaking of a government law officer's letter criticising Heseltine.

Until then, Brittan had had a promising career in Cabinet, serving as Home Secretary from 1983 to 1985 and president of the Board of Trade in 1985/86. He then went on to spend a decade in Brussels from 1989 to 1999 as one of the UK's European commissioners, and was vice-president of the Commission from 1989 to 1993.

Political observers believed his time as Home Secretary had been brought to an end by Mrs Thatcher because, although he had a great intellect and understanding of policy, he was less able as a performer on television (and was famously mocked by Spitting Image's pustular puppet of him).

There were also controversial decisions during his time at the Home Office, notably his attempt to persuade the governors of the BBC to suppress a documentary on republicanism in Northern Ireland. Scandal also re-emerged long after he left office when he was caught up in a row over allegations that he failed to act on evidence of child abuse by senior figures in Westminster in the 1980s.

Born of Lithuanian Jewish descent, Leon Brittan read law at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became president of the union. After a time at Yale, he was called to the Bar, becoming a Queen's counsel in 1978, by which time he had already become an MP for Cleveland and Whitby.

He served as an opposition spokesman in the mid 70s before becoming a junior minister at the Home Office when the Conservatives won the 1979 general election. He then joined the cabinet in 1981 as chief secretary to the Treasury before being promoted to Home Secretary in 1983 after Mrs Thatcher's second election victory.

It was during his time in charge at the Home Office that Geoffrey Dickens, the Tory MP, handed him a dossier alleging the existence of a paedophile ring at Westminster.

The episode re-emerged recently amid a spate of child abuse allegations against national figures and suggestions of organised abuse. Lord Brittan confirmed that he had a meeting with Dickens and was given a file which was passed to the police. No action was taken and the file later disappeared.

Lord Brittan said: "I do not recall being contacted further about these matters by Home Office officials or by Mr Dickens or by anyone else." However, a letter later emerged from Lord Brittan to Dickens in which the Home Secretary said Dickens' dossier had been assessed as worth pursuing by the director of public prosecutions. A Home Office review later found that the department had not retained the dossier.

Lord Brittan remained Home Secretary until 1985 before becoming Trade and Industry Secretary. A year later, he was forced to resign over the Westland affair.

The row centred on which bidder should be preferred to take over the British helicopter firm; Lord Brittan preferred the US firm Sikorsky but Heseltine wanted a European option.

In July 1986, the row reached a head with Heseltine leaving the Cabinet in the middle of the meeting and resigning from the government. A few days later, Lord Brittan was also forced to resign after admitting he had authorised the leaking of a government law officer's letter criticising Heseltine. The row lit the slow fuse which eventually led to Heseltine challenging Mrs Thatcher for the leadership of the Conservative party.

Lord Brittan then went on to work in Europe, a time that was also not without controversy, with many on the right of the Conservative party seeing him as far too close to the European project; as competition commissioner, for example, he cleared the way for the formation of the single market by cracking down on state subsidies.

In recent years, his name had been closely associated with the attempt to investigate the handling of abuse allegations in the 80s. A review of the Home Office's handling of the allegations by NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless found no evidence of a cover-up and another wider-ranging inquiry is planned.

Lord Brittan left Brussels in 1999 and served as vice-chairman of UBS Warburg (now UBS Investment Bank). He is survived by his wife Diana and two step-daughters.