Thompson had a lasting achievement to thwart a plan for a nuclear power station on the long and sandy Druridge Bay, east of Widdrington in the county, one of the leading beaches of Northumberland.
Thompson was an undemonstrative leftwinger, described by one of the Conservative candidates he defeated as an "absolute gentleman"[citation needed] and became a party whip for seven years.
[citation needed] Thompson saw the Druridge Bay project as a threat to the environment as well as to the coal industry, and was alarmed that a pressurised water reactor — which he considered unsafe — was under consideration by the Central Electricity Generating Board.
In November 1984 he joined MPs from the hard-left Left Campaign Group in a demonstration that forced suspension of the chamber's sitting, over deductions from supplementary benefit for striking miners’ dependants.
He later critiqued the "absolute folly" of breaking up the electricity industry prior to privatisation, campaigned against a planned toxic waste plant at North Blyth, and criticised Northumbria's ambulance service for opting out of NHS control without consultation.