| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord King of Bridgwater | |
| Office: | Secretary of State for Defence |
| Primeminister: | Margaret Thatcher John Major |
| Term Start: | 24 July 1989 |
| Term End: | 11 April 1992 |
| Predecessor: | George Younger |
| Successor: | Malcolm Rifkind |
| Office2: | Secretary of State for Northern Ireland |
| Primeminister2: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start2: | 3 September 1985 |
| Term End2: | 24 July 1989 |
| Predecessor2: | Douglas Hurd |
| Successor2: | Peter Brooke |
| Office3: | Secretary of State for Employment |
| Primeminister3: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start3: | 16 October 1983 |
| Term End3: | 2 September 1985 |
| Predecessor3: | Norman Tebbit |
| Successor3: | The Lord Young of Graffham |
| Office4: | Secretary of State for Transport |
| Primeminister4: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start4: | 11 June 1983 |
| Term End4: | 16 October 1983 |
| Predecessor4: | David Howell |
| Successor4: | Nicholas Ridley |
| Office5: | Secretary of State for the Environment |
| Primeminister5: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Term Start5: | 6 January 1983 |
| Term End5: | 11 June 1983 |
| Predecessor5: | Michael Heseltine |
| Successor5: | Patrick Jenkin |
| Office6: | Shadow Secretary of State for Energy |
| Term Start6: | 19 November 1976 |
| Term End6: | 4 May 1979 |
| Leader6: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Preceded6: | John Biffen |
| Succeeded6: | David Owen |
| Office7: | Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal |
| Term Start7: | 9 July 2001 Life Peerage |
| Office8: | Member of Parliament for Bridgwater |
| Term Start8: | 12 March 1970 |
| Term End8: | 14 May 2001 |
| Predecessor8: | Gerald Wills |
| Successor8: | Ian Liddell-Grainger |
| Birth Date: | 13 June 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Rugby, United Kingdom |
| Spouse: | Elizabeth Jane King[1] |
| Party: | Conservative |
| Alma Mater: | Emmanuel College, Cambridge |
Thomas Jeremy King, Baron King of Bridgwater, (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.
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.
King was commissioned as an officer in the Somerset Light Infantry in 1952 and during his period of national service he was seconded to the King's African Rifles.
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.[3] [4] 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."[5]
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.[6]
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. 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.
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.
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