Lord Tebbit..started out as national service pilot - into BOAC then Balpa and was the driving force that grounded the first 747 for nearly two years (wide bodied pay scale)..became MP and was Maggie Thatcher’s right hand man until the IRA Brighton bombing which left his wife in a wheelchair and he gave up politics to care for her.
Never met the bloke but have never heard anything bad about him unlike the other useless articles I came across who did the Balpa - BEA management route.