Apart from his personal life I have always considered his political views quite sound. He was a little too sympathetic towards the IRA but he understood and was not afraid to speak out that the history of the "Troubles" was Britain's fault alone, and it should be they who moved to resolve the Northern Irish situation - that had to be a brave move in the 70's and would have won him no popularity votes either side of the pond. More lately he unquestionably helped with the agreement that is in place now, and that agreement has affected the quality of life for most people in Britain, in that the IRA threats and actions are all but a thing of the past - and considering my sister is a "border wife", I am more thankful of that than most.
He was anti most wars that in retrospect have proved to be futile and unnecessarily painful, so there could have been nothing wrong with his foresight, and I for one judge him for those views and not his personal endeavours - would the man without skeletons in his closet, cast the first bone..
R.I.P.
