WORCESTER MP Mike Foster has paid a warm tribute to Tony Banks, his co-architect of the hunting ban, who died on Sunday evening.

The former sports minister, who became Lord Stratford after retiring as a Labour MP last year, passed away after suffering a massive stroke in Florida. He was 62.

One of his biggest legacies is the ban on hunting with dogs, a law which he achieved alongside the Worcester MP in 2004.

Mr Foster said: "We worked incredibly closely together over several years on the hunting issue. It's very, very sad news.

"I had a phone call over the weekend to say what had happened and I feared the worst because of the reports that had come through and from what his office told me.

"It's a shame because he really was a character and he was genuinely funny in private and public.

"He was someone who will be missed because he passionately believed in Parliament, but he was very much a down to earth individual dealing with the powers that be."