The son of Walter Best DL and Frances Chignell, Best was educated at Shrewsbury School and the University of Nottingham.

He is also president of the Sustainable Energy Association and co-chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People.

He was president of the Local Government Association 2007–2016, Commissioner of the Rural Development Commission 1989–1998, trustee and treasurer of the Royal Society of Arts 2007–2014, and a member of the NCVO Advisory Council 2008–2016.

On 4 June 2001, Best was created a life peer as Baron Best, of Godmanstone in the County of Dorset.

Best was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1988 New Year Honours.