Part French himself, he was awarded the Légion d'honneur, the Croix de Guerre avec Palme and a citation à l'ordre de L'Armée for his spy landings and torpedo actions in the Mediterranean.
He was also a founder member of the Bow Group and first chairman of Croydon East Conservative Association.
Stainton was Member of Parliament for Sudbury and Woodbridge from a 1963 by-election until the 1983 general election, when the seat was abolished by boundary changes; he failed to win selection in either of its successor seats, South Suffolk and Suffolk Coastal.
Stainton married twice, and had six children by his first wife Vanessa Ann Heald (marriage dissolved).
This article about a Conservative Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom representing an English constituency and born in the 1920s is a stub.