A FORMER Chancellor of the Exchequer – with strong links to the Forest – has died at the age of 98.

Mr Denis Healey reportedly met his wife Edna, who was born and bred in Coleford, at Oxford University before they married and went on to have three children.

It’s reported the former Leeds MP died peacefully at his Sussex home on Saturday, after a short illness.

Mr Healey served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979. He was a Member of Parliament for 40 years (from 1952 until his retirement in 1992) and was the last surviving member of the cabinet formed by Harold Wilson after the Labour Party’s victory in the 1964 General Election.

His wife Edna died in 2010.