N. St John-Stevas | British politician, 82

Norman St John-Stevas, 82, a politician noted for his wit, his extravagance, and for falling foul of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, has died.

His family announced Monday that he died on Friday after a short illness.

Beyond the affectations, which included writing in purple ink and lapsing into Latin, he was a lawyer, an expert on Britain's unwritten constitution, a former cabinet minister, former chairman of the Royal Fine Art Commission, master of a Cambridge college, and advocate of the canonization of Princess Grace of Monaco.

He was elevated to the House of Lords in 1987, taking the title Lord St John of Fawsley.

"Because I am burdened with a capacity for wit, people have sometimes had the impression that I am not serious in my approach," he once lamented. "Nothing could be farther from the truth."

Mr. St John-Stevas first served as a cabinet minister in the waning months of Prime Minister Edward Heath's administration, and returned after the Conservative victory in 1979 in Thatcher's first cabinet. He didn't last long, ejected in 1981 along with other moderate "wets" deemed insufficiently devoted to her policies.

He reportedly referred to Thatcher as "the Leaderene," "the Blessed Margaret," and "Tina," the last being an acronym for her slogan: "There is no alternative."

During his time in the cabinet, however, he made a lasting contribution to British governance by reorganizing the select committees in Parliament to review the government's performance. Those committees are still growing in influence. - AP