 He was educated at The King's School, Ely and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he studied Law and History and was the chairman of the Cambridge University Conservative Association as the successor to Geoffrey Howe.He then trained as a barrister and was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1954, becoming a prominent criminal lawyer and a Queen's Counsel in 1974.He was elected MP for Colchester in a 1961 by-election.