Voice of Thatcher's back bench dies at 74

Sir Marcus Fox, the voice of the Tory back benches for 14 years in the Thatcher and Major years, has died at 74.

Sir Marcus served as MP for Shipley between 1970 and 1997, when he lost the formerly safe West Yorkshire seat in the Labour landslide. But he rose to prominence at Westminster as vice-chairman of the 1922 Committee of MPs between 1983 and 1992, and chairman for five years after wresting the post from Sir Cranley Onslow.

He articulated the frustration of Tory MPs as the Major administration became bogged down with in-fighting over Europe and beset by financial and sexual scandals. He incensed Mr Major by warning he was "on probation" as Prime Minister.

Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative leader, paid tribute to Sir Marcus, who died on Saturday, as a great servant of the party and one of Parliament's great characters. "Marcus will be remembered as a distinguished chairman of the Conservative 1922 Committee."

Sir Marcus, a right-wing populist, began a successful business career as an office boy with the Midland Bank, eventually building a network of interests across industry in West Yorkshire. He served as a whip in Edward Heath's Government, and had a brief spell in opposition as a frontbench transport spokesman for Margaret Thatcher. After her 1979 election victory, he was a junior minister at the Department of the Environment until 1981.