[1] A protégé of the poet and economist Sir Alexander Gray, his doctoral thesis was on the nationalisation of the British coal industry, focusing in particular on the Lothian coalfield.
[2] Thompson was active in politics from a young age, and was formerly president of the Edinburgh University Labour Club.
[3] Having contested Galloway unsuccessfully as a Labour candidate in the 1950 and 1951 general elections, he served as Member of Parliament for Dunfermline Burghs from 1959 to 1964.
[1] Although an active participant in parliamentary debates, the stress of maintaining "full-on commitment" and commuting from Edinburgh to London quickly took its toll on his health, and despite being offered the prospect of a junior ministerial post in the event of a Labour victory at the 1964 general election he chose to step down after just one term.
[3] He remained, however, a distinctive figure on the moderate, Gaitskellite wing of the party, and was close to many fellow "intellectual" MPs of that stamp, most notably John P. Mackintosh and Douglas Jay.