Thomas Alexander Fermor-Hesketh, 3rd Baron Hesketh, KBE, PC (born 28 October 1950) is a British peer and UK Independence Party politician. Early life Hesketh succeeded in the barony (and baronetcy) on 6 October 1955, aged four, when his father, Frederick Fermor-Hesketh, 2nd Baron Hesketh, died aged 39. His mother, Christian Mary McEwen, Dowager Lady Hesketh, served as the High Sheriff of Northamptonshire in 1981. He was educated at Ampleforth College, Yorkshire. He went on to work for Dean Witter in San Francisco before returning to manage his family's businesses. Career Hesketh automatically became a member of the House of Lords but took no active part in politics until he met Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher after the Irish Republican Army's bomb attack on her in Brighton on 12 October 1984. Thatcher visited Easton Neston and in conversation, Hesketh explained that he did not occupy his seat in the House of Lords. He later explained, "Mrs Thatcher asked me if I served on a regular basis in the House, and when I told her no, she said, 'You must. It's your duty, and I expect you to be there.'" From that point Hesketh worked under Thatcher, whom he described as "the most outstanding person I ever worked with" and held the office of Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment between 1989 and 1990 and was Minister of State in the Department of Trade and Industry between 1990 and 1991. On 22 May of that year, he became Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms (Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords) under the next Prime Minister, John Major, a position he kept until 16 September 1993. During his period in office as Chief Whip he helped secure the Local Government Finance Act 1992, which introduced council taxes, and the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993, which ratified the Maastricht Treaty. Hesketh lost his seat in the House of Lords in 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999 removed all but 92 hereditary peers, and he was not one of the 92 who were elected to keep their seats. In 2003, he became treasurer of the Conservative Party, resigning in 2006 owing to his own financial difficulties, and was formerly a board member of The Conservative Party Foundation. On 10 October 2011, Hesketh defected to the UK Independence Party, in response to Prime Minister David Cameron ruling out a