Former French prime minister;

Born: July 5, 1928. Died: June 7, 2013.

Pierre Mauroy, who has died aged 84, was prime minister of France in the early 1980s.

He implemented radical social reforms that are credited with making life easier for French workers. He served as prime minister from 1981 to 1984 under Socialist President Francois Mitterrand and his reforms included cutting the legal work week, lowering the retirement age and raising the number of paid holidays.

He was born into a big family – he was the eldest of seven – in Cartignies near the Belgian border. When the Germans invaded France in the Second World War, the family were forced to flee across the north of the country.

On his return after the war, Mauroy became a teacher, like his father. He worked in Colombes, near Paris, between 1952 and 1954 but he was also beginning to form his political ambitions. He became national secretary of the Young Socialists in 1950 and then secretary general of the Union of Technical College Teachers several years later.

By the early 1960s, he had joined Section Francaise de L'Internationale Ouvriere, the forerunner of the Parti Soialiste and became its general secretary and modernised the party with its leader Francois Mitterrand. In 1981, he was chosen to lead the first government of the Mitterand era.

In power, his reforms helped reduce poverty but also led to higher inflation and a widening budget deficit, forcing a government U-turn.

In 1988, he became first secretary of the party, then president of the Socialist International from 1992 to 1999 and a member of the French senate for the Nord from 1992 to 2011.

He was also mayor of Lille from 1973 to 2001 and was responsible for renovation of its old town.

President Francois Hollande said Mauroy was a Socialist and he wanted social justice to inspire all his acts.

Mauroy, who underwent an operation for cancerous tumour on lung last year, is survived by his wife and son.