Lord Braine of Wheatley, politician; born June 24, 1914, died January 5, 2000

THE fact that Lord Braine - formerly Sir Bernard Braine - won a near unprecedented 12 successive victories in his Canvey Island constituency with massive majorities of around 20,000, created the impression that his seat was a super-safe Conservative stronghold. But the fact that within four years of his retirement the seat was represented by a Labour MP gives some guidance to the remarkable way in which he conducted himself as a constituency representative.

I know the area well because it is only a few miles along the river from Southend on Sea. And I also know that as the news broke through of Bernard's death, there was genuine and rather unusual deep sorrow expressed by everyone in the community. Of course, there are many good MPs in all parties but Sir Bernard was unique.

His first attribute was summarised by one of the local councillors. ''The people just loved him because he helped everybody.'' I've come across some of his former constituents who have moved to Southend and the files of correspondence they have shown me indicates that when fighting for a constituent he went out of his way to go all the way in a search for justice.

His second great merit was that he fought like a tiger for the interests of his constituency. When there were floods in Canvey Island he held up the proceedings of the House of Commons with the longest speech ever recorded - well over three hours as a means of persuading the Government to give the area the exceptional help which he believed they merited, and which they eventually did receive through his endeavours.

Third, he was a man of deep passion and commitment. Whenever he spoke, one could sense that he believed the issue was one of the most important facing mankind. For example, as the creator of the Pro Life movement battling against David Steel's Bill on Abortion, he spoke with deep feeling about the cruel and revolting manner in which babies of 18 weeks had their limbs ''torn from their bodies and their heads crushed''. We have many MPs who speak in the Commons with strength and conviction, but there are few who ever questioned that Bernard did this with a background of total and complete sincerity. There were many such causes which he championed. The rights of persecuted persons behind the Iron Bloc earned him the reputation of the great anti-Communist, but in practice it was people's rights rather than political battles which were his objective.

Bernard was born in Ealing in 1914, he went to the Hendon Grammar School and then took up employment in the Inland Revenue where he worked alongside Jim Callaghan who was to become a Labour Prime Minister. He fought in the Second World War in various parts of the world and became a lieutenant.

However, when the war was over he became a Conservative candidate in the 1945 General Election and in 1950 secured election as MP for Billericay which was later changed to Castle Point. His maiden speech was given in March 1950, when he broke all the traditions of non-controversial maiden speeches and lambasted the people of Britain for going to sleep and abandoning their responsibilities while half the people of the world were subject to dictatorships and persecution, and he attacked Government and all MPs of all parties for not wanting to talk about complex foreign affairs issues.

Because he was a man of strong views who would never consider a compromise, Bernard never succeeded in joining the Cabinet and the most he achieved was very junior posts in Ministries like Pensions and Health.

After his 42 years of service, after having been made Father of the House and having been awarded as many honours and titles that were available, Bernard was clearly dissatisfied. He stated to everyone's surprise that if he had his time again, ''I'm not sure I would have gone into politics,'' because for Bernard the great problems had not been solved, his passionate wish to resolve them had not been fully utilised, and instead of listening to him the political leaders simply applauded him with titles and honorary positions.

But so far as his constituents were concerned, he gave them great service. I think the best tribute of all came from the news vendor in Southend when I bought my local paper. ''If there were more people around like Bernard Braine, I think that politics would become good and decent again!'' I've a feeling that he is correct in his assessment.