Dickens was born in London and fostered until he was eight years old. He never had contact with his mother afterwards. He was educated at schools at East Lane in Wembley and at Acton Technical College. He suffered polio when he was 13, for which he had to spend two years in hospital. During his youth Dickens became a heavyweight boxer, sparring with Don Cockell and Henry Cooper. He had 60 bouts, of which he won 40. He worked as an Aviation Design Draughtsman at BSP Industries in Borehamwood, Herts, whom he represented as a talented goalkeeper; he became a member of St Albans Rural District Council from 1967–74, and was its chairman in 1970–71. He also was a member of Hertfordshire County Council in 1970–1975. In 1972 Dickens was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Testimonial on Vellum after he saved two boys and a man from drowning in the sea off Majorca.
Member of Parliament
A Conservative politician, Dickens fought unsuccessfully for Middlesbrough in February 1974 and for Ealing North in October 1974. He won Huddersfield West in 1979 but this seat was abolished after boundary reviews. He was selected as the Conservative candidate for Littleborough and Saddleworth, which he won in 1983. Described as "Falstaffian" and "the original 'rent-a-quote' man", over his time in parliament he campaigned for causes as diverse as the return of hanging and the banning of teddy bears. He indicated in a 1987 BBC Heart of the Matter documentary that consideration should be given to re-criminalising homosexuality, and opposed the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement and ordination of gay priests. He once held a press conference announcing an affair without, apparently, warning his wife. He served on the Commons Energy Select Committee.
Paedophile ring investigation
Between 1981 and 1985, Dickens campaigned against a suspected paedophile ring he claimed to have uncovered that was connected to trading child pornography. In 1981, Dickens named the former British High Commissioner to Canada, Sir Peter Hayman, as a paedophile in the House of Commons, using parliamentary privilege so he could not be sued for slander. Dickens asked why he had not been jailed after the discovery on a bus of violent pornography. In 1983, Dickens claimed there was a paedophile network involving "big, big names – people in positions of power, influence and responsibility" and threatened to name them in the Commons. The next year, he campaigned for the banning of Hayman's Paedophile Information Exchange organisation. Dickens had a thirty-minute meeting with the Home Secretary, Leon Brittan, after giving him a dossier containing the child abuse allegations. Although Dickens said he was "encouraged" by the meeting, he later expressed concern that PIE had not been banned. On 29 November 1985, Dickens said in a speech to the Commons that paedophiles were "evil and dangerous" and that child pornography generated "vast sums". He further claimed that: "The noose around my neck grew tighter after I named a former high-flying British diplomat on the Floor of the House. Honourable Members will understand that where big money is involved and as important names came into my possession so the threats began. First, I received threatening telephone calls followed by two burglaries at my London home. Then, more seriously, my name appeared on a multi-killer's hit list". Dickens' son later said that about the time when the dossier was given to the Home Secretary, the MP's London flat and constituency home were both broken into but nothing was taken, presumably in a search for documents. The Labour MP Tom Watson asked the Home Office in February 2013 for Dickens' dossier. A Home Office review in 2013 concluded that any information requiring investigation was referred to the police but revealed that Mr Dickens' dossier was "not retained". After the issue had been raised again by Labour MP Simon Danczuk in July 2014, former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, said the circumstances in which the dossier had gone missing were alarming and recommended an inquiry into the fate of the dossier. Prime Minister David Cameron asked the Home Office Permanent Secretary to investigate what had happened to the missing dossier. Danczuk responded that another internal inquiry was merely trying to limit damage, and that a public inquiry was necessary to retain public confidence. The missing dossier has been linked with ongoing investigations into the Elm Guest House child abuse scandal. In 2015, a file from 1981 was released into the National Archives titled SECURITY. Sir Peter Hayman: allegations against former public official of unnatural sexual proclivities; security aspects, showing that the then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had been briefed on the matter before the allegations were made public by Dickens.
Legacy
The journalist Patrick Cosgrave said of Dickens in his obituary: "Nobody thought more highly of his capacities than Dickens himself." Michael Brown, who had been his whip, remembered "a superb constituency man who held down a Tory majority in difficult northern, working-class seats..." Tristan Garel-Jones wrote that "Despite the conscious self-deprecation, he was shrewder than he let on."
Personal life
Dickens married Norma Boothby in 1956 and the couple had two children. He died after a battle with liver cancer in 1995, aged 63. Controversially, his Liberal Democrat successor Chris Davies, openly campaigned for election during Dickens's cancer battle.
