Former Ulster Unionist Party leader Jim Molyneaux

JIM Molyneaux, the former Ulster Unionist Party leader has died aged 94.

Mr Molyneaux was one of the longest serving leaders of the UUP, leading the party from 1979 to 1995.

A soldier during World War II, he was among the first British troops to enter the Bergen Belsen concentration camp in 1945.

He was knighted in 1996 and became a life peer in 1997, taking the title Lord Molyneaux of Killead.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt paid tribute saying Mr Molyneaux “brought a stability to the unionist party at a time when it was much needed.”

Mr Molyneaux was once a close confidante of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher but turned away from her when she signed the controversial Anglo Irish Agreement in 1985.