The former Northern Ireland Secretary Patrick Mayhew has died.

As the Conservative MP for Tunbridge Wells, he had a central role in peace talks and was involved in the negotiating of the 1993 Downing Street Declaration, formulated by then British prime minister John Major and then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

The deal eventually brought about an IRA ceasefire.

Mr Mayhew's family says he passed away peacefully today, at the age of 86, following a long battle with Parkinson's and Cancer.