He graduated from the London School of Economics and undertook postgraduate study at Princeton University.

[5] The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent all of their three children to the local comprehensive, Highgate Wood School, Crouch End, north London.

[9] When Labour took over government, he chaired the influential House of Lords Committee on Economic Affairs from 1998 until 2005.

[9] He was chairman of the Pools Panel during the 1990s, adjudicating on the expected results of football matches in case any were postponed.

In the House, he spoke candidly about his existential views, describing himself as someone "who regards all religious belief as failing to meet even the most elementary epistemological and deontological criteria".