Brighton Pavilion is the only seat in Britain to have a Green MP in Caroline Lucas and before that it was held by Labour’s David Lepper for 13 years.

But by far the longest- serving Pavilion MP was the Conservative Julian Amery. Winning it easily in a 1969 by-election, he held it for 23 years before retiring in 1992.

Amery was steeped in politics from the start. His father, Leo Amery, was a Cabinet Minister and used to entertain most of the leading statesmen at their home in London.

He had an adventurous war, helping partisans in Yugoslavia before aiding resistance forces in Albania. Several times he narrowly avoided death but survived to write about it in a book called Approach March.

Meanwhile, his brother John was sentenced to death for being a traitor but showed courage and humour at the end.

He told the hangman, “I’ve always wanted to meet you, Mr Pierrepoint, but not in these circumstances.”

Julian Amery was elected as an MP in 1951 for Preston. In the same year, he married Catherine, daughter of Harold Macmillan who became Prime Minister in 1957.

He had several jobs in the Macmillan government, ending up as Minister of Aviation, where moves to build the supersonic aircraft, Concorde, started.

But Labour won the 1964 election and Amery lost his seat in the 1966 contest. It took him three years to get back for Brighton Pavilion after being selected ahead of local contenders.

There were complaints that Amery did not do enough work in Brighton but he had good access to ministers. He said he was a statesman, not a large-scale councillor, and the new Prime Minister, Edward Heath, offered him a series of ministerial jobs.

Brighton Kemptown MP Andrew Bowden said loyally at that time, “Julian looks after the world while I look after Brighton.”

When Amery was Housing Minister, he was lambasted by a Labour MP who said a well-connected old Etonian could know nothing about the troubles of poor people living in terraced housing.

“But I live in a terraced house,” replied Amery while neglecting to say it was in Eaton Square, Belgravia.

Amery was eventually made Foreign Office Minister which suited his interest in international affairs. Mrs Thatcher used to send him as a trouble shooter to countries in turmoil or with problems.

He knew leading politicians from all over the world ranging from Chairman Mao of China to US presidents such as Ronald Reagan.

His international stance was imperialist but on domestic issues he could be radical, advising firms to appoint worker directors and voting against the death penalty, probably because of his brother.

A great drinker, he still managed to write, ski and walk into old age and took the curious title of Baron Amery of Lustleigh after retiring.

He died aged 77 in 1996 and at the well-attended memorial service, he was quoted as saying, “Between the revolution and the firing squad, there is always time for a bottle of champagne.”