Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater

The Right Honourable
The Lord King of Bridgwater
CH PC
The Right Honourable The Lord King of Bridgwater CH PC
Secretary of State for Defence
	In office; 24 July 1989 – 11 April 1992
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher; John Major
Preceded by	George Younger
Succeeded by	Malcolm Rifkind
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
	In office; 3 September 1985 – 24 July 1989
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Douglas Hurd
Succeeded by	Peter Brooke
Secretary of State for Employment
	In office; 16 October 1983 – 2 September 1985
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Norman Tebbit
Succeeded by	The Lord Young of Graffham
Secretary of State for Transport
	In office; 11 June 1983 – 16 October 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	David Howell
Succeeded by	Nicholas Ridley
Secretary of State for the Environment
	In office; 6 January 1983 – 11 June 1983
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Michael Heseltine
Succeeded by	Patrick Jenkin
Shadow Secretary of State for Energy
	In office; 19 November 1976 – 4 May 1979
Leader	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	John Biffen
Succeeded by	David Owen
Member of the House of Lords; Lord Temporal
	Incumbent
	Assumed office ; 9 July 2001; Life Peerage
Member of Parliament ; for Bridgwater
	In office; 12 March 1970 – 14 May 2001
Preceded by	Gerald Wills
Succeeded by	Ian Liddell-Grainger
Personal details
Born	13 June 1933 (age 91); Rugby, Warwickshire, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Elizabeth Jane King
Alma mater	Emmanuel College, Cambridge

Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, CH, PC (born 13 June 1933) is a British politician.^[2] A member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet from 1983 to 1992, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bridgwater in Somerset from 1970 to 2001. He was made a life peer in 2001.

Life and career

Education

King was educated at two independent schools: at St Michael's School, a former boys' preparatory school (later co-educational), in the village of Tawstock in North Devon, followed by Rugby School (Sheriff House), a boarding school for boys in Warwickshire, before attending Emmanuel College, Cambridge.

Military service

King was commissioned as an officer in the Somerset Light Infantry in 1952^[3] and during his period of national service he was seconded to the King's African Rifles.

Political career

King was elected to Parliament at the 1970 Bridgwater by-election, following the death of the sitting MP, Sir Gerald Wills.

King was brought into the Cabinet in 1983 by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. After brief stints as the Environment Secretary and Transport Secretary, he went on to hold the posts of Employment Secretary and Northern Ireland Secretary at a time when these were high-profile roles with the potential for controversy.

In October 1988, John McCann, Finbar Cullen and Martina Shanahan, all from the Republic of Ireland, were convicted at Winchester Crown Court of conspiracy to murder King near his home in Wiltshire and sentenced to 25 years in prison. No evidence was produced in the trial that the defendants belonged to the IRA. The trio were freed after serving two and a half years after their convictions were quashed. The Court of Appeal ruled that their trial could have been prejudiced by comments made by King who said the defendants should not have the right to remain silent.^[4]^[5] The former Master of the Rolls, Lord Denning, criticised the Appeal Court ruling, stating: "British justice has been betrayed by the Court of Appeal, in my opinion. Justice was done at Winchester Crown Court."^[6]

King went on to serve as Defence Secretary under Prime Minister John Major during the Gulf War. He left the Cabinet following the 1992 general election, and returned to the backbenches where he served as Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 1994 to 2001, during which time KGB agent Vasili Mitrokhin defected to reveal 87-year-old Melita Norwood as a Soviet spy.^[7]

King left the House of Commons at the 2001 general election, and was created a life peer as Baron King of Bridgwater, of Bridgwater in the County of Somerset on 9 July 2001.^[8] He now sits in the House of Lords. He serves as Deputy Chairman of the Conservative Party's Policy Group on National and International Security, which was set up by David Cameron in 2006.^{[citation needed]}

In popular culture

King was portrayed by Peter Blythe in the 2004 BBC production of The Alan Clark Diaries.

King was the subject of a song in the satirical ITV programme Spitting Image in which he was depicted as the Invisible Man during his term as Employment Secretary.

References

^ "Elizabeth Jane Tilney". wikidata.org. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
^ "Mr Tom King (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 May 2021.
^ "No. 39618". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 August 1952. p. 4236.
^ "Three Convicted of Plot to Kill Ulster Minister". Associated Press. 28 October 1988. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ McGonagle, Suzanne (24 February 2015). "Gun haul 'may have been linked to murder attempt on Tom King'". The Irish News. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "Denning condemns freeing of the Winchester Three". The Herald. 30 April 1990. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
^ "More KGB revelations to come". BBC News.
^ "No. 25048". The Edinburgh Gazette. 13 July 2001. p. 1583.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Tom King

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Gerald Wills	Member of Parliament for Bridgwater 1970–2001	Succeeded by Ian Liddell-Grainger
Political offices
Preceded by Michael Heseltine	Secretary of State for the Environment 1983	Succeeded by Patrick Jenkin
Preceded by David Howell	Secretary of State for Transport 1983	Succeeded by Nicholas Ridley
Preceded by Norman Tebbit	Secretary of State for Employment 1983–1985	Succeeded by The Lord Young of Graffham
Preceded by Douglas Hurd	Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 1985–1989	Succeeded by Peter Brooke
Preceded by George Younger	Secretary of State for Defence 1989–1992	Succeeded by Malcolm Rifkind
New office	Chairperson of the Intelligence and Security Committee 1994–2001	Succeeded by Ann Taylor
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by The Lord Jones	Gentlemen Baron King of Bridgwater	Followed by The Lord Heseltine