The outgoing minister for sport was as well known for his cheerful insults, one-liners and absence of ministerial pomposity as for his work.
He described the Tory leader William Hague as a foetus and upset Anglo-Canadian relations by calling the Canadians "dickheads" for their policy of seal culling. On another occasion he called the portly Tory Nicholas Soames "his own personal food mountain".
However, even those he insulted most comprehensively could not bring themselves to dislike him. His unstuffy demeanour, his sheer chirpiness, attracted him to the figureheads of sport the world over. And his knowledge, particularly of football and athletics, is unrivalled.