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 gaol. 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.