London) Division in Palestine, commanding the divisional engineers in the Battle of Beersheba, the attack on the Sheria position, and the Capture of Jerusalem. He distinguished himself at the Capture of Jericho. After a distinguished wartime career both behind the lines and at the front, Thomson formed part of the British delegation at the Versailles conference, but condemned the Versailles terms as "containing the seeds of another war." As in Romania where he followed a policy (of making Romania an ally) with which he did not agree, he found the experience to be profoundly negative. Politics After Versailles Thomson made the decision to enter politics, and joined the Labour Party and Fabian Society. He stood as Labour candidate in two Tory strongholds, Bristol Central in 1922 and St Albans in 1923, but failed to win either seat. In 1924, however, newly elected Labour Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald elevated him to the peerage as Baron Thomson, of Cardington in the County of Bedford. He was sworn of the Privy Council at the same time. He served as Secretary of State for Air in MacDonald's first short lived Labour administration of 1924 – interrupting briefly Sir Samuel Hoare's seven-year grip on the post. The fall of the government meant that it was not until 1929 that he regained the position, once again serving under MacDonald. In the interim he had maintained his air interests acting as chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Royal Aero Club, and patron of the Air League. Private life Thomson was known as Kit to his family and C. B. to his friends. In March 1915 while British military attache in Bucharest, he met the (married) French-Romanian author Princess Marthe Bibesco, and remained devoted to her for the rest of his life. They corresponded regularly. She dedicated four books to "C.B.T." and visited the site of the R101 accident with their mutual friend the Abbé Mugnier in December 1930. Death His second term in office was cut short by tragedy as Thomson died in the crash of the R101 airship, a government-designed dirigible, on its maiden flight to Karachi in October 1930. The accident, caused partly by pressure put on by Lord Thomson to make the maiden flight before safety checks were complete and adequate flight testing, claimed the lives of 48 people and led to the cancellation of the British airship programme by Thomson's successor