In his first speech at Westminster in March 1974, a month after being elected as the MP for the then newly created Midlands seat of West Bromwich East, Peter Snape, who has died aged 84, described his constituents as a “special brand” of people.
They were, he said, forthright and honest, with a down-to-earth sense of humour – a portrayal which the ensuing 50 years of active membership of both houses of parliament would also prove to be an unwittingly precise description of Snape himself.
