Like his parents, Black was a strict Baptist. Among his family's business empire was a chain of teetotal hotels; when the other directors voted to apply for a licence to serve alcohol, Black, a total abstainer, resigned and sold his shares in the company. He strove unsuccessfully against the Macmillan government's attempts to liberalise gambling laws, launch Premium bonds, and reform the divorce laws. He campaigned in favour of birching petty criminals, and against a wide range of targets, including water fluoridation, the popular BBC comedy show "Round the Horne", and immigration. In 1965, in his capacity as "a far-right Conservative MP who took a lively interest in sexual matters", Black strenuously opposed liberalising the laws against homosexuals. He proposed that every MP who voted for reform should print in his or her next election address that they were "in favour of private sodomy". Black was one of a group of 15 Conservative MPs to vote against the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1968.