Highly respected Conservative MP and minister who served as secretary of state for Northern Ireland
James Brokenshire, who has died aged 53 of lung cancer, was the Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup and a minister in successive governments, including in the cabinet of Theresa May.
Following May’s rise to the premiership in 2016, Brokenshire was appointed secretary of state for Northern Ireland. There he was soon thrust into responsibility for governing the province in the wake of the collapse in January 2017 of the power-sharing executive, from which Sinn Féin withdrew following the Democratic Unionists’ involvement in the “cash-for-ash” renewable heating scheme.