Former Boston MP Sir Richard dies aged 90

Mr Body, who died at the weekend, served as the MP for Holland with Boston from 1966 until 1997 and then for the Boston and Skegness constituency from 1997 until he stood down in 2001.

Boston and Skegness Conservative Association president Dudley Bryant has paid tribute to the MP, who was first elected with a majority of only 300 but during his nearly 40 years as MP grew the gap between the Conservatives and their opponents into the thousands.

It was only after the boundaries were reshaped for the 1997 election that his majority shrunk again.

He said: “He was a very well respected member of Parliament with the local population of his constituencies of Holland and Boston and Boston and Skegness because he never failed to respond and to act on his constituents’ requests for help

“He was independently-minded and held strong views which were always supported by well thought-out arguments.

“He was highly thought of locally and actually that’s evidenced by the number of people who voted for him at election time because he was able to attract not only Conservative votes but he also had a substantial following from both Labour and Liberal Democrat voters.”

During his time in politics, Mr Body was an early supporter of environmental causes.

He was also a prominent Eurosceptic and wrote a number of books on topics such as agriculture and Europe.