Former UK Treasury chief Alistair Darling, who steered nation through a credit crunch, has died

LONDON (AP) — Alistair Darling, a central figure in the U.K.’s response to the 2008 financial crisis who later helped organize the campaign against Scottish independence, has died. He was 70.

Darling had been treated for cancer, his family said in statement on Thursday. He served as Britain’s treasury chief under then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who praised him as a “popular and effective’’ government minister.

Though Darling held a variety of posts during his 28 years in the House of Commons, he is likely to be remembered most for his work in steering the nation’s finances during the global credit crunch. The package of measures he implemented were credited with preventing an even more dramatic slide after the crisis threatened the nation’s banking system.

“Alistair will be remembered as a statesman of unimpeachable integrity whose life was defined by a strong sense of social justice and who gained a global reputation for the assured competence and the exercise of considered judgment he brought to the handling of economic affairs,” Brown said.