The founding editor of a former regional daily who went on to help give Boris Johnson his break as a parliamentary candidate has died aged 91.

Howard Green, pictured, edited the Reading Evening Post for the first four years of its life, between 1965 and 1969.

At the time of Howard’s departure, the newspaper had a circulation of 55,000.  It went weekly in 2009, and was closed by Trinity Mirror in 2014.

News of his death was posted on Twitter by his son Damian Green, the Tory MP for Ashford, Kent, and former deputy prime minister to Theresa May.

Born in Barry, Glamorgan, Howard joined the Barry and District News as a trainee reporter aged 15.

After National Service in the army, he moved to the Cardiff-based South Wales Echo, serving as district reporter for the Aberdare valley before moving to the South Wales Argus in Newport as industrial correspondent.

After his time in Reading, he was then appointed chief executive of the Evening Mail in Slough, before moving back to Reading in 1973 as managing director of Thames Valley Newspapers.

In 1981 Howard was posted to his native Wales as managing director of the Western Mail and South Wales Echo, in Cardiff.

He left the Thomson group in 1985 after 36 years’ service to join the Advertiser series in Essex as managing director.

He retired in 1991, and went on to serve as chairman of the South Oxfordshire Conservative Association – chairing the selection committee which selected Boris Johnson as Tory candidate for Henley following Michael Heseltine’s retirement as an MP in 2001.

South Wales Evening Post politics reporter David Connop Price posted his own tribute to Howard in response to Damian Green’s message on Twitter.

He wrote:  “I’m sorry for your loss. I had the privilege of having lunch with your father shortly after starting my journalism career and receiving the benefit of his wisdom and advice. I still treasure that meeting.”