Veteran politician Sir Cyril Smith has died aged 82. Sir Cyril served as the Liberal and later Liberal Democrat MP for Rochdale from 1972 until retiring in 1992. He became one of his party's heavyweight political figures in the 1970s and 1980s - both his famously rotund stature and his larger-than-life personality made him a distinctive character in British politics. A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats in Rochdale, the town where he was born and raised, confirmed his death. The former MP was made an MBE for his public services in 1966 and was knighted in 1988. The lifelong bachelor, who reportedly weighed 29 stones at one point, was often a thorn in the side of his party's leadership. Famously outspoken with a typical Northern bluntness, Sir Cyril once described Parliament as "the longest running farce in the West End" and never made it to the leadership of his party. During a political career spanning decades he changed parties three times and in 1976 suggested the formation of a completely new Centre party. From humble beginnings in Rochdale he won a scholarship to Rochdale Grammar School for Boys, honing his debating skills at the local Unitarian Church. Elected to Parliament in 1972 in a landslide victory over Labour in his home town, he began his resolutely independent career at Westminster despite his party affiliation. He became party spokesman on employment and chief whip but rejected calls for him to stand as the party leader, and finally retired from Westminster in 1992. | 
