Rodgers was Member of Parliament (MP) for the marginal Chorley seat from 1974 to 1979, when he lost to the Conservative Den Dover.
During the second world war, he served in the navy (1943–46), earning decorations after dangerous Arctic convoys and on the Normandy landings.
Back home, he trained as a welder, working first for White's in Widnes, then Eaves in Blackpool, Costain's and, finally, BICC.
Rodgers was persuaded to go for the marginal Chorley seat, which had been tenuously held for Labour by a local sheep-farmer Clifford Kenyon and lost to Conservative, Constance Monks the prior election.
But the man selected was his daughter Julie's husband, Sir George Howarth, now the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.