He was also a Methodist local preacher and secretary of Leeds North West Constituency Labour Party.
In a debate on 4 August 1980 he became the first MP to use the phrase "chuntering from a sedentary position", later used by many MPs, and a catchphrase of former Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.
Short herself later became a Labour MP and cabinet minister, winning Birmingham Ladywood for the first time on the same day Lyon lost his seat.
In her book An Honourable Deception, she described how "after losing his parliamentary seat, he moved from being a senior Labour MP to running my constituency office where he gave me enormous support as well as bringing great experience to the task.
Later he decided to return to the Bar, but after a time got himself into various difficulties and I began to suspect that either he was suffering a deep depression or mental deterioration.