On November 13th I stood shoulder to shoulder with my neighbour, Paul Goggins the MP for Wythenshawe and Sale East at St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey. We were paying our respects at the service of thanksgiving for Paul’s predecessor, Lord Morris of Manchester. Alf Morris was MP for Wythenshawe from 1964 to 1997 and he was a man ahead of his time. Not only was he the UK’s first minister for the disabled, he introduced a law which transformed the rights of disabled people in society. He took his Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act through Parliament as a Private Members Bill. Often if an MP introduces a Private Members Bill they’ll do so with the support of the Government; they go for something ‘off the shelf’ which the government may support. But Alf Morris’s Bill was his own doing; it came about because of his compassion, and he fought for it every step of the way. It faced a great deal of opposition, but he saw it through to become the first of its kind. Not only was it the first disability discrimination legislation in the UK, it became a model for other countries and was copied throughout the world. It showed what an individual MP, with enough determination and dedication, can achieve. As the UK’s first Minister for the Disabled, he introduced benefits for disabled people and their carers, including a mobility allowance. All things which nowadays people might take for granted in a civilized society, but Alf Morris was the man who fought to bring them about. For the MPs at the service it was a timely reminder of just how much can be achieved by an individual parliamentarian. I came away from the service, truly humbled.