The Labour peer David Lipsey has been found dead after swimming in the River Wye in Wales, police have said.

Officers were called to the village of Glasbury on Monday after concerns were raised about the safety of a man who was last seen swimming in the river.

Dyfed Powys police said on Thursday the body of the 77-year-old was pulled from the water on Tuesday after a multi-agency search.

Lord Lipsey previously worked as a journalist and was a Downing Street adviser under the then prime minister, Jim Callaghan.

A police spokesperson said: “His next of kin have been informed and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. They have asked for their privacy to be respected.”

Lipsey entered the Lords in 1999. Lord McFall of Alcluith, the Lord Speaker, said the upper chamber extended its “condolences to the noble lord’s family and friends”.

Lipsey, originally from Dorset, lived in Powys and was a patron of the Glasbury arts festival. In the 1970s, he served as a special adviser to the Labour minister and diarist Anthony Crosland and on the staff at 10 Downing Street under Callaghan, later Lord Callaghan.

Lipsey also worked for the Guardian, the Sunday Times, New Society and the Economist and co-founded the short-lived Sunday Correspondent in 1988. He was awarded a life peerage by Tony Blair in 1999.

The peer was also a fan of greyhound racing, chairing the British Greyhound Racing Board, now called the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, between 2004 and 2009 and worked to get dogs rehomed at the end of their careers.

Keir Starmer said: “David was loved and respected by so many. Whether it was his early years as a researcher and adviser, or his quarter of a century in the House of Lords, he worked tirelessly for what he believed in.

“He will be sorely missed by all who were fortunate to know him, in parliament and beyond. My thoughts are with his wife, Margaret, and their family and friends.”