A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major from 1995 to 1997.

Freeman was born in the Wirral, and privately educated at Whitgift School, Croydon He then studied at Balliol College, Oxford.

[citation needed] He did his best to make the dying days of the Major government more colourful by appearing on Channel 4's 'bottom up' television programme The People's Parliament.

Appearing by video link, he was quizzed by the female Scots host on the alleged unapproachability of politicians "in grey suits".

Narrowly defeated in the 1997 general election, he was shortly afterwards raised to the peerage as Baron Freeman, of Dingley in the County of Northamptonshire in the 1997 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours.