JAMES MACKAY, former lord chancellor under prime ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major, has died at the age of 99.

The son of a railway signalman, he was born in Edinburgh in 1927 and studied mathematics and physics at the University of St Andrew’s. He went on to teach at Cambridge University before returning to Edinburgh to study law — graduating in 1955.

Ten years later he was appointed a QC, and served as Dean of Faculty of Advocates from 1976 until being made a Tory peer in 1979.

A judge of the Supreme Court of Scotland from 1984 to 1985, Thatcher appointed him Lord Chancellor in 1987, a post held for a decade whilst adhering to the sabbatarianism of his Presbyterian faith.

Offering condolences, attorney general Lord Hermer said: “Lord Mackay, across all parties, was a hugely respected figure,” while Lord Advocate Ruth Charteris KC remembered an “exceptionally brilliant, enormously capable and perceptive man,” adding: “He had a genuine interest in people and in life and, despite his many achievements, he remained unfailingly humble. 

“His warmth and wisdom left a lasting impression on all who knew him.”