Ex-Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Lord Boyce dies aged 79

Ex-Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Lord Boyce dies aged 79: Cold War submarine commander known as ‘Iceman’ who challenged Tony Blair in run-up to 2003 Iraq invasion passes away after cancer battle

  • Admiral of the Fleet Lord Michael Boyce has died with cancer aged 79
  • Ex-Chief of the Defence Staff was a Cold War submarine commander
  • He later challenged Tony Blair over the Government’s 2003 Iraq invasion 

Admiral of the Fleet Lord Michael Boyce – the Cold War submarine commander known as ‘Iceman’ who later challenged Tony Blair’s authority while Chief of the Defence Staff in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War – has died aged 79 after a battle with cancer. 

Lord Boyce was Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area and Commander Naval Forces North Western Europe in the late 1990s and First Sea Lord from 1998 to 2001.

He was then appointed Chief of the Defence Staff, becoming the last First Sea Lord to hold the position of Britain’s military chief before Admiral Sir Tony Radakin’s appointment last year.


Admiral of the Fleet Lord Michael Boyce – the Cold War submarine commander known as ‘Iceman’ who later challenged Tony Blair’s authority while Chief of the Defence Staff in the run-up to the 2003 Iraq War – has died aged 79 after a battle with cancer

Lord Boyce was Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Atlantic Area and Commander Naval Forces North Western Europe in the late 1990s and First Sea Lord from 1998 to 2001 (pictured with his family at Buckingham Palace)

He later became a crossbench peer in the House of Lords and was made an honorary Admiral of the Fleet in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2014

In that capacity, Lord Boyce challenged the Blair Government’s legal authority for its invasion of Iraq.

He later became a crossbench peer in the House of Lords and was made an honorary Admiral of the Fleet in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2014.

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