Sir Kenneth Thompson, 1st Baronet

Sir Kenneth Pugh Thompson, 1st Baronet (24 December 1909 – 4 January 1984) was a British company director and politician from Liverpool. He served fourteen years in Parliament but is most known for his contribution to local government where he was Chairman of Merseyside County Council and Deputy Chairman of the Merseyside Development Corporation.

Thompson was born in Liverpool and went to Bootle Grammar School. Rather than go to university he became a newspaper reporter for several years, and then went into commerce. During the 1930s he was a lecturer for the pro-free market Economic League. He was also an active member of the Conservative Party and in 1938 was elected to Liverpool City Council.

Due to contracting polio as a child he could not be sent to fight; so during the Second World War Thompson became a civil servant working as a Regional Officer for the Ministry of Information, and remained active in Liverpool. After the end of the war he became a director of several Liverpool companies.

At the 1950 general election, Thompson was selected to try to regain the Liverpool Walton constituency for the Conservatives after its loss at the previous election. He won the seat back with a majority of more than 4,000. Thompson retained his seat on Liverpool City Council despite his entrance on the national political stage.

He proved a popular Member and was chosen as Secretary of the 1922 Committee after the 1951 election. Thompson's commercial experience was drawn on when he was brought into negotiations on trade with Brazil, which eventually led to a successful reopening of commercial relations. In 1956 he was made Chairman of the Conservative National Advisory Committee on Local Government.

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