He was a bit of a gays are alright as long as they are discrete with their sad perversions sort of man - a product of his times. He was not so keen on the more demanding gays that came with a later generation, commenting at what point that he wondered if gays had gone too far in their demands.

Still, we gays here in the UK owe him and his fellow parliamentarian, David Steel, a debt for pushing through the 1967 sexual offences act which legalised gay sex for consenting adults in private, if you were over 21.