Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, has died aged 68 after being diagnosed with cancer.

His family announced his death after a “short battle with cancer” in a social media post in which they paid tribute to a “truly fantastic husband, dad, brother, son and granddad.”

Lord [Bob] Kerslake was nominated for a peerage by David Cameron and ennobled following his retirement as permanent secretary at the Department for Communities and Local Government, with the peerage was conferred by the late Queen in 2015.

He was also a chairman of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London but he quit the role in 2017, warning that the health service could not continue “staggering along” under the current funding levels.

Senior Labour Party figures including its leader Sir Keir Starmer, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting, former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and mayor of London Sadiq Khan paid tributes to him a “true public servant of the highest integrity.”

Announcing the news on Twitter, Ros Kerslake CBE wrote: “My brother Bob (Lord Robert Kerslake) died yesterday after a short battle with cancer. We are all devastated.”

In another tweet, Eleanor Kerslake added: “Unfortunately my wonderful dad Bob Kerslake died yesterday. We are all devastated. Dad had a few jobs in his time but the most important to him was being a truly fantastic husband, dad, brother, son and granddad.”

Sir Keir tweeted on Sunday: