A staunch right-winger with an eye for an opportunity

Describing himself as a Conservative "ever since my balls dropped", Alan James Carter Duncan is one of the brightest, most provocative and libertarian of the Tory party's front bench.

Short and dapper, he has made a dramatic impact on his party ever since he routed Tory wets as president of the Oxford University Conservative Association in the 1970s.

He made at least £1m as an oil trader after a stint as a Kennedy scholar at Harvard, spotting the need to supply tankers to Pakistan when Kuwait's supplies were hit by the Gulf war. During this period, he worked for the now infamous US financier Marc Rich, who was later controversially pardoned by the former president Bill Clinton.

But along with a fellow ambitious young Conservative called William Hague, with whom he shared a flat, Mr Duncan was determined to make his name in politics rather than business. After fighting a no-hope seat in Barnsley in 1987, he was pipped by Mr Hague for the plum by-election seat of Richmond in 1988. He clinched selection for Rutland and Melton in 1990.

Mr Duncan first made his name in national politics in earnest when, just two hours after Margaret Thatcher announced her resignation in November 1990, he offered his home in Westminster as the campaign HQ for John Major.

A proud right-winger, he was a staunch Eurosceptic and soon built up a political relationship with Jonathan Aitken, the then Tory minister. Despite Mr Aitken's fall from grace, Mr Duncan has been a loyal supporter.

His first step on the Government ladder came as PPS to Brian Mawhinney, then party chairman, in 1993. He hit the headlines by making a citizen's arrest on a protester who threw a pot of paint on his boss. Mr Duncan claimed £1,000 for damage to his suit, Mr Mawhinney claimed £200.

In 1995, he co-wrote Saturn's Children, a radical call for a minimalist state with minimum taxes supporting only defence and health. The book also made the case for legalising hard and soft drugs. Mr Duncan opposed attempts by women MPs to create a crèche at Westminster, attacked a civil rights bill for the disabled on grounds of cost and helped his friend Neil Hamilton oppose attempts to deselect him in Tatton.

An ally of Michael Portillo and his brand of economic and social liberalism, Mr Duncan vigorously supported the former defence secretary when he returned to Parliament in 1999. He was a key member of the Portillo leadership team and was quickly snapped up by Iain Duncan Smith when the Kensington and Chelsea MP dropped out of the race.

Mr Duncan has always steadfastly opposed homophobia. In 1994, he asked his fellow MP Bob Spink: "Why does my honourable friend think that the solution to two 18-year-olds consenting to have sex is to send them to prison?" He was the only member of the shadow front bench to vote at every opportunity to lower the age of consent for gay sex to 16.

Colleagues were well aware of his sexuality. Now the public know too.