NORTH Ipswich MP Sir Michael Lord today paid tribute to Royal British Legion president and Conservative stalwart Reg Driver who died this week.Mr Driver was on the selection panel which chose Sir Michael to fight the new parliamentary seat of Central Suffolk in 1983.

NORTH Ipswich MP Sir Michael Lord today paid tribute to Royal British Legion president and Conservative stalwart Reg Driver who died this week.

Mr Driver was on the selection panel which chose Sir Michael to fight the new parliamentary seat of Central Suffolk in 1983.

Sir Michael said: “We have been close friends since then, and the news of his death was very sad.

“Reg was a wonderful person. He was a great servant to the party, to Ipswich, and especially to the Royal British Legion.

“It is especially poignant that his death should have come so near to Remembrance Sunday. I will always remember him organising the parade there.

“A few years ago the weather was terrible. It was cold, wet, and windy - but there was Reg in the middle of it all organising the parade.”

Mr Driver died of a heart attack in hospital on Tuesday evening after being admitted for a routine operation.

He had hoped to be out of hospital in time to help organise the Armistice Day ceremony at Ipswich Cemetery tomorrow .

He was due to organise children at the second world war cemetery as they paid their tribute to those who fell in the war.

That ceremony will now go ahead at 11am without him but Sir Michael said everyone's thoughts in Ipswich would be with Mr Driver's family.

He said: “It is especially poignant that he should go at this time of the year. Our thoughts will all be with his widow Peggy and the rest of his family.”