A service of thanksgiving was held at Westminster Cathedral for the Marquess of Lothian, known when he was an MP as Michael Ancram. Deputy Leader of the Conservatives from 2001 to 2005, he fought for the leadership unsuccessfully in 2001.
The service was led by Bishop James Curry, auxiliary bishop of Westminster.
Sir Malcom Rifkind, former Foreign Secretary, recalled being at the family seat, Monteviot House, near Jedburgh, when Michael on the guitar and his father Peter Lothian on the piano sang folk songs.
Ancram nearly became a victim of the IRA bomb in Brighton in 1984.
He later became a key figure in the negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Sir John Major, who was at the service, recounted in his memoirs how skilfully Michael moved the peace process forward.
Rifkind suggested that Ancram’s credibility on Irish matters was helped by the fact that, although an aristocrat, he was a Catholic:
‘He was known by his friends and family as a man of charm, friendliness, humour and integrity; by his parliamentary and ministerial colleagues as a man of courage and principle, whose public life and service derived from his personal beliefs and religious convictions.
‘He came from an aristocratic background and accepted that that created obligations as well as privileges.’
Nick Hurd, former MP and son of the late Douglas Hurd, former Foreign Secretary, and Lord Howard of Penrith also paid tribute.
Ancram’s brother, the 14th Marquess, read 1 Corinthians 13: ‘Love is patient’.
Hymns included ‘Hail, Queen of Heaven, the Ocean Star’. The choir sang the ‘Londonderry Air’, ‘Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart’ and von Schlegel’s ‘Be still, my soul’. James Carrington sang Ralph McTell’s ‘Streets of London’.
