Former Tory Cabinet minister Norman Tebbit said he hopes Martin McGuinness is 'parked in a particularly hot and unpleasant corner of hell for the rest of eternity'.

The peer, whose wife Margaret was paralysed when the IRA bombed a Brighton hotel during the Conservative Party conference, said the world is a 'sweeter and cleaner' place now the former deputy first minister is dead.

Lord Tebbit, who lives in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, branded the former IRA commander a 'coward' and insisted he had only turned to peace to 'save his own skin'.

Sinn Fein announced that Northern Ireland's former deputy first minister and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness passed away in Derry during the night.

Mr McGuinness stood down in January in protest at the DUP's handling of the 'cash for ash' energy scandal, triggering a snap election.

Former prime minister Tony Blair said the Northern Ireland peace process would not have been possible without the leadership and courage shown by Martin McGuinness. He said of the ex-IRA commander: 'Once he became the peace maker he became it wholeheartedly.'

Mr Blair was in Number 10 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams paid tribute to his lifelong friend, saying: 'Throughout his life Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness.

'He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the reunification of his country.

'But above all he loved his family and the people of Derry and he was immensely proud of both. 'On behalf of republicans everywhere we extend our condolences to Bernie, Fiachra, Emmet, Fionnuala and Grainne, grandchildren and the extended McGuinness family. Lord Tebbit said he refused to forgive Mr McGuinness for his terrorist past because 'forgiveness requires confession of sins and repentance'. 'There was none of that,' he added. Jo Berry, the daughter of Conservative MP Sir Anthony Berry who was killed in the Brighton bombing, said Martin McGuinness should be remembered for his efforts to build peace.