. . .
He
told the Guardian that he became a Conservative when visiting Paris during the 1968 student protests, which he saw as an "unruly mob of self-indulgent middle-class hooligans" professing "ludicrous Marxist gobbledegook".
Yes, it seems that meeting people with opposing strong views did rather upset him.
I believe that a few years ago he was sacked from some Quango by by the Tory Party who felt that being both anti-Semitic and Islamophobic at the same time was a bit too far even for them
I imagine that he considered the Minister for the 19th Century to be a radical modernist.
I heard him talk from time to time over the years but rather dismissed him as an attention-seeking contrarian, a bit like that bloke Clarkson who used to present Top Gear. Personally I became more aware of him when he was promoting smoking whilst being paid by the tobacco industry.
There is quite a bit about him on Wikipedia and in past Guardian reports - I gather that Private Eye had some fun at his expense but of course that is not available online