THE children of former Pontypool and Torfaen MP Leo Abse have closed ranks and are refusing to comment further, after it emerged their father left them no money in his will.

Tobias Abse, 53, a professor of European history at the University of London, spoke of his "tremendous shock" in a national newspaper interview earlier this week, after it emerged that he and his sister, Bathsheba Morabito, were left a few items in the will, while their late father's second wife Ania Czepulkowska-Abse, 50 years his junior, inherited her husband's £1.2 million fortune.

He told the Argus that he and his sister had been advised not to comment further.

He has called the will "hurtful" and some of its provisions "almost gratuitous."

He and his sister were left a number of their mother Marjorie's tapestries, amongst other items, while he was left his father's library, with the exception of 300 books Mrs Czepulkowska was allowed to choose for herself.

"I do not want at this stage to say anything further, having spoken to my sister, and we have been advised not to say anything more," said Mr Abse.

Leo Abse was MP for the Pontypool, and Torfaen constituencies for almost 30 years to 1987, winning a reputation as a reformer whose work helped change divorce and family laws and paved the way for the legalisation of homosexuality.

He was also a founder of the law firm Leo Abse and Cohen, now one of Wales' largest, almost 60 years ago.

He died, aged 91, in London in August 2008, eight years after marrying his second wife, an alliance that attracted national headlines.

His first wife Marjorie, to whom he was married for almost 40 years, died in 1996.