He had served as Labour"s Scottish whip whilst an Member of Parliament. On 31 March 1988, he described Margaret Thatcher in the House of Commons as having "behaved towards Scotland with all the sensitivity of a sex-starved boa constrictor" (a remark immediately withdrawn, as is the custom in the Commons). In the by-election that followed his death, his widow, Irene Adams (who had succeeded him on the Strathclyde Council and served as his secretary while he was Member of Parliament), was elected Member of Parliament for Paisley North.
Labour Party; 48th United Kingdom Parliament. 49th United Kingdom Parliament. 50th United Kingdom Parliament]
Adams, a Strathclyde Regional Councillor, was elected Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Paisley from 1979 to 1983, then for Paisley North from 1983 until his death in 1990 at the age of 44.