LONDON: Lord Deedes, a vaunted British journalist and former politician and close friend of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has died, the Telegraph Media Group said Friday. He was 94.
Deedes, who edited the Daily Telegraph newspaper for 12 years and served as a Conservative lawmaker for 24 years, was still writing regular columns up until his death, which followed a short illness.
He served in Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's Cabinet from 1962-1964 and was made a life peer in 1986.
Despite the lofty circles he moved in, Deedes was admired for being a man of the people. He shunned the title "Lord," preferring instead to be called by his first name, Bill.
"Bill Deedes was a giant among men, a towering figure in journalism, an icon in British politics and a humanitarian to his very core," Aidan Barclay, chairman of the Telegraph Media Group, said in a statement.
"He was part of the fabric of The Telegraph. In his passing we have lost part of ourselves. We will not see his like again. Our thoughts are with his family and his legion of friends."
Into old age, Deedes continued to travel to some of the world's more hostile regions, championing often unpopular causes. At the age of 85 he was made an ambassador for UNICEF. In his last Telegraph column, published on Aug. 3, he compared the modern day horrors taking place in Sudan's western Darfur region to Nazi Germany.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain owed a "huge debt of gratitude" for Lord Deedes' public service.
"He started writing as a professional journalist more than 76 years ago and few have served journalism and the British people for so long at such a high level of distinction and with such a popular following," Brown said.
Thatcher described Deedes as dear friend who would be greatly missed.
He is survived by a son and three daughters.
