A brilliant scholar and champion athlete while at university, Bulmer-Thomas wrote biographies and worked as a sub-editor on The Times during his early life.

[1] He went to West Monmouth School in Pontypool, where he abandoned his father's Baptist faith in favour of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England,[2] a decision that was to affect his future career profoundly.

[2] David Fowler noted the following works[6] Thomas joined the staff of The Times newspaper in 1930, where he served in the sub-editors' room.

[5] In 1935, owed some leave from The Times, Thomas took it to coincide with the general election[2] for which he had been chosen as Labour Party candidate for Spen Valley in July.

[2] Thomas moved to the News Chronicle in 1937 as chief leader writer, finding the time to write a biography of Welsh industrialist David Davies which was published the following year.

Thomas' reaction was to write "Dilysia", a threnody which combined his increasing love of Italian literature (especially Dante) with a Christian philosophical analysis of suffering and bereavement.

While in the Army, he wrote a two-volume work "Selections Illustrating the History of Greek Mathematics" which was published by the Loeb Classical Library;[5] he was promoted to captain in 1941.

As a fluent Italian speaker, Thomas was drafted into the psychological warfare department of the Foreign Office and Ministry of Information with a brief to develop propaganda for use against Mussolini's Italy.

[10] Thomas' maiden speech on 12 March concerned pensions, during which he argued that the means test was "a blot on our national honour".

[11] In his early period in Parliament he concentrated on propaganda concerns, in which he disagreed with Stephen King-Hall's call for it to be treated on the same level as the three services.

[12] In November 1942, Thomas worked with Aneurin Bevan and an all-party group of Members of Parliament to put down a motion opposing British co-operation with Admiral Darlan in French North Africa.

[13] He was also active on domestic issues, supporting the movement to allow Sunday opening of theatres,[14] and for his stance he was denounced by the Lord's Day Observance Society.

At a meeting of the society in February 1943, one prayer asked God to "deal with Ivor Thomas as he dealt with Saul of Tarsus".

Winster and Thomas were forced by left-wing pressure within the Labour Party to revisit the plans and make the corporations public monopolies.

[20][21] Some Labour Members were concerned that Thomas, still a young man with little experience of the heavy work of Parliament, was in charge of such an important Bill.

On 4 October 1946 Thomas was moved to be Under-Secretary for the Colonies,[23] a shift which he later ascribed to an act of weakness by Attlee in giving in to left-wing pressure after the dispute over the Civil Aviation Bill.

[24] He negotiated at the United Nations over continued British administration of the colonies of Tanganyika, Togoland and the Cameroons, against attempts by the Soviet Union to limit the extent of control.

[26] The Colonies Office also had responsibility for Palestine under the British mandate, in which he followed government policy of resisting illegal immigration (which was predominantly Jewish).

[3] Hyacinth Morgan intervened in his speech to ask whether he would stand for re-election immediately under his new colours; Thomas replied that he had consulted the precedent of Tom Horabin who had moved from the Liberals to Labour without so doing.

[41] Bulmer-Thomas' obituary in The Independent commented that "more than any other single Act, this modest Measure has prevented many of those sudden 'repairs crises' which carry off too many fine churches".

[42] At the Church Assembly on 15 November 1956, Bulmer-Thomas attacked Fisher, saying that he "held a pistol to my face while the Dean of Gloucester plunged his dagger into my back", which shocked some listeners.

On 12 August 1957 Bulmer-Thomas announced the formation of "The Friends of Friendless Churches", with himself as acting chairman and honorary secretary; he stressed that the group "is in no sense a rival to any existing body".

[5] In addition he became a Churchwarden at St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe in the City of London, where he conducted an "Advanced Sunday School";[2] he had a special bond to the Church, having fought to have it rebuilt after bomb damage in the Second World War.

[2] Bulmer-Thomas was reported to have been working "literally till a few minutes before his death"[1] on a letter to the Daily Telegraph, which was published on the same day as his obituary appeared.