As a politician I recall him as arrogant, elitist and an all round not very nice chap, the worst type of Tory, public school, privileged upbringing. I had a little chuckle when he lost his seat.
After some time in the wilderness he was approached to do a tv programme where he had to live for a fixed period on whatever the unemployment benefit was at the time.
I think it came across in the programme how genuinely shocked he was at how hard life was for the poorer classes and it seemed to change him for the better as a person.
I warmed to him and seeing him on This Week opposite Alan Johnson was always a pleasure.
It always struck me that he would be a far better politician today than he was back in the day.
