A member of the House of Lords, he served as Minister of State for the Armed Forces under John Major.

He initially attempted to enter Parliament for Dagenham at the February and October 1974 elections, but was defeated by Labour's veteran incumbent, John Parker.

[2] On 13 May 2005 it was announced that he would be created a life peer, and the peerage was gazetted on 17 June 2005 as Baron Hamilton of Epsom, of West Anstey in the County of Devon.

(1901-30 August 1940) and poet and author Priscilla Hayter (1908–98), who produced books about Napier ancestors, poetry and an autobiography, A Late Beginner, which is still in print.

In 2006, their youngest daughter Alice Rose Alethea Hamilton married Dominic Johnson, financier, hedge fund manager, and government minister.

[4] Hamilton sits in the House of Lords, and is a trustee of Supporting Wounded Veterans [5] as well as being the president of the Lest We Forget Association.