General secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union Bob Crow has died aged 52

In a statement on its website, the union said he died in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“The union’s offices will be closed for the rest of the day and the union will make further announcements in due course,” it added.

Mr Crow was elected general secretary of the RMT in 2002 following the death of former leader Jimmy Knapp.

The BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson said Mr Crow “was, some argue, the most successful union leader in terms of securing jobs and pay for his members”.

Only a day before his death, he told BBC Radio 4’s PM programme that MPs deserved a pay rise.

Former London mayor Ken Livingstone told Sky News: “Young people will learn lessons from him and realise he stood up for his members.”

He added: “He was great company.”

Born in 1961 in east London, Mr Crow got his first job on the underground at the age of 16, fixing rails and cutting down trees on the track.

BBC