I hope I am not the only person who found the glowing tributes and praise to Alan Clark MP, who died last week, rather nauseating.

I would not wish to speak ill of the dead (although I suspect it would not have stopped Mr Clark) but I was quite dismayed to hear various people gushing out their own words of tribute.

In a week when we were urged to bring back some basic morality into our society and we were vilifying young girls for getting pregnant and boys for making them so, it seems particularly hypocritical to eulogise Alan Clark.

He was, after all, a self-confessed serial adulterer, a racist and sexist male and, as far as I am concerned, one of the most arrogant people I have ever met.

I am sure the good folk of Plymouth Sutton ward will not forget him, especially if they read his diaries.

There, it is quite clear he detested the constituency demands. He was even rude about those who worked to get him elected each time so that he was able to pick up his Parliamentary salary.

This, of course, was of little consequence to him because of his private wealth and other income.

To somehow forget all this and excuse it on the basis that he was a 'colourful character' and that the Commons would be a poorer place without him I find faintly ridiculous.

I am not sure what unforgettable major contribution he made in the Commons.

I do hope Mr Portillo is not going to try and emulate him and that his candid admission about his private life whilst at university was not calculated to give him some 'colour'.

Frankly, I think we could do without it.

I for one would prefer men and women who are hardworking, possess common sense and some humility and do not look to make the outrageous remark in order to please the media or upstage a colleague and do not delight in making offensive references about all and sundry.

They may be a little 'greyer' in the eyes of the media, but they are usually more effective at representing real people in Parliament.