For more than two decades he was a combative and chronically rebellious backbencher, a man who knew his own mind and spoke it, and who was often critical of his own front bench. He was a member of the 92 Group and was initially regarded as being well to the right in the Conservative Party, but it is probably fairer to categorise him as a traditionalist, and the positions he took were not altogether predictable. In later years he could more fairly be described as having mellowed in his views, especially on immigration and nationality.