Jack Brooks, Labour peer and boxing administrator, dies

Tributes have been paid to former South Glamorgan council leader Lord Brooks, who has died aged 88.

Former Cardiff South and Penarth MP Alun Michael told BBC Wales he was one of the people who helped create modern Cardiff.

The Labour peer had also been chairman of the British Boxing Board of Control.

Its general secretary Robert Smith said Lord Brooks had saved the board from bankruptcy by relocating it from London to Cardiff after a costly legal battle.

Boxer Michael Watson won damages of £400,000 after suing the board for negligence over brain injuries he suffered in a fight with Chris Eubank in 1991.

Mr Smith said Lord Brooks was "a great boxing man and a great person" who would be sadly missed in the sport.

'Driven'

The former council leader had also been the agent for former Prime Minister James Callaghan, who had been a Cardiff MP.

Mr Michael, now South Wales police and crime commissioner, said: "Jack Brooks played a key role in developing Cardiff into the real capital city that it genuinely is nowadays."

He said he had been "driven by wanting this to be a city in which people could be respected, could have an opportunity of having a career and a job and a way in life".