Neil Murray, 57, lost his life in an apparent accident on board his 10m trawler, Our Boy Andrew, off Rame Head in Cornwall on Thursday.

At the same time his MP wife was giving a speech, at Westminster, about the dangers of closing Coastguard stations.

In a statement Sheryll Murray, Conservative MP for South East Cornwall, said of her husband: ‘He died doing what he loved.’

According to the MCA, rescue teams including RNLI lifeboats and an RN helicopter searched for the missing vessel when it failed to return on Thursday evening. A full inquiry has been launched although police say the death is not being treated as suspicious.