Former Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks has paid tribute to John Humphrys during his final broadcast of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

Speaking live on air in the Thought for the Day slot on Thursday, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks said the veteran broadcaster “never let us forget the moral dimension of politics, never let our leaders off the hook, and you carried on the great tradition of speaking truth to power”.

“British breakfasts will never be the same again,” he signed off.

Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks also compared the host to “prophets of ancient Israel… who had the courage to speak truth to power and hold power accountable to truth”.

He said: “We don’t have prophets nowadays, but if we did, one place you’d probably find them would be the Today programme, because Today’s tough interviewers are recognisably in that tradition of holding power accountable to truth.

“Among them, for me and very many others, John has been one of the best of our time. What’s made John distinctive has been his fearless moral passion and his refusal to be fobbed off with evasions and equivocations.”

Mr Humphrys bowed out of a 32-year stint presenting Today, interviewing former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and David Cameron in his final show.

He signed off with criticism for political leaders’ preference for “talking directly to the people via social media so they can choose the questions they answer without being challenged”.

In his interview with Mr Blair, he said: “Jeremy Corbyn has not been interviewed on this programme for nearly three years and Boris Johnson hasn’t done a single interview with us since he became prime minister.”