Name George Baron Children Caroline Thomson | Role Journalist Political party Liberal Democrats | |
Died October 3, 2008, London, United Kingdom Books Journey to an Unknown Destination: The British Arrival in Brussels in 1973: The 1999 FCO Annual Lecture Similar People Caroline Thomson, Roy Jenkins, David Owen, John Reith - 1st Baron Reith | ||
George Morgan Thomson, Baron Thomson of Monifieth, KT, PC, DL, FRSE (16 January 1921 – 3 October 2008), was a journalist and British politician belonging to the Labour Party.
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In the 1980s, he joined the Social Democratic Party. Following the SDP's merger with the Liberal Party, he became a Liberal Democrat and sat as a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords.
Early life
Thomson was educated at Grove Academy, Broughty Ferry, Dundee, and served in the Royal Air Force from 1941–46. He was the editor of The Forward, a Dundee newspaper from 1946–56.
Political career
At the 1950 and 1951 general elections, Thomson stood unsuccessfully in Glasgow Hillhead. In 1952, he was elected Member of Parliament in a by-election for Dundee East, where he served until his resignation in 1972. He served in the Wilson government as Minister of State, Foreign Office, from October 1964 to April 1966, then as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster from 1966–67, and again from 1969–70, Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs from 1967–68, and Minister without Portfolio from 1968–69. During his time as Commonwealth Secretary he had responsibility for trying to reach a settlement of the Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) question and for implementing sanctions against the regime there. He was one of the first British Commissioners of the European Community (EC) from 1973–77, with responsibility for regional policy. As chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority from 1981–88 he oversaw the introduction of Channel 4 and TV-am.
He was Chair of the Advertising Standards Authority from 1977–80; Chair of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) 1981–88; a European Commissioner, with responsibility for Regional Policy 1973–76; First Crown Estate Commissioner from 1977–80; and a Member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life from 1994 until 1997. He was Deputy Chair of the Woolwich Building Society from 1988–91. He had been a Lords' Member of the Parliamentary Broadcasting Unit since 1993. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Television Society, and a patron of Sustrans.
In 1985 he was invited to deliver the MacMillan Memorial Lecture to the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland; he chose "Does Public Broadcasting Have a Future? The Challenge of the New Technologies". After moving with his wife, Grace, to Charing, Kent, Thomson held the position of Party President, for Ashford Liberal Democrats, from 1999–2006.
Death
He died on Friday 3 October 2008 at London's St Thomas' Hospital, from a viral infection. He was survived by his wife, Grace, Lady Thomson (1925-2014), and their two daughters, Ailsa and Caroline, the former Chief Operating Officer of the BBC.
Honours
Thomson was made a Privy Councillor in 1966, was created a Life Peer on 23 March 1977 as Baron Thomson of Monifieth, of Monifieth in the District of the City of Dundee, and became a Knight of the Thistle in 1981.