Educated at Bedford School, he went into the Royal Navy aged 18 in 1944 and served four years on the lower decks, which he claimed was the best thing that ever happened to him.
He finally joined in 1961 and in the 1964 election worked for an elderly lady candidate 'who was slightly muddled about who was Prime Minister'.
He decided things could not go on like that and fought the 1966 election himself with his wife, Brenda, and a few friends, covering the island by Land Rover.
In the Commons he was successively party spokesman on housing and local government, the environment, transport and Northern Ireland, but his main legislative imprint remains to this day in the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act of 1977 which he promoted successfully as a Private Member's Bill.
[3] Shortly after he chose to not stand for a fourth term, he was elevated to the House of Lords, being created a life peer on 4 November 1987 taking the title Baron Ross of Newport, of Newport in the County of the Isle of Wight,[4] where he spoke on local government As an MP in his constituency he enjoyed a popular following, and reports that he received support from others who would normally have voted for candidates from other parties were often cited.