On leaving school, Boardman paid £500 to become an articled clerk with a local solicitor, but in 1938, despite an early interest in the law and politics, enlisted into the British Army as a trooper in the 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry.

[6] At the start of the World War II, Boardman was selected for training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 14 September 1940.

[6] After the D-Day landings in 1944, Boardman was detailed to act as navigator for four armoured columns formed from the Northamptonshire Yeomanry, and 1st Battalion Black Watch.

Having used all his flares, Boardman had to run back to the second tank in the column to find more, in so doing he almost fell into a slit trench full of Germans; but the objective was achieved.

[6] On 8 August 1944, Kurt Meyer, of the SS Hitlerjugend Division, ordered elements of his command to counterattack and recapture the high ground taken by The Allies.

Boardman, with A Squadron 1st Northamptonshire Yeomanry, ambushed the Tigers crossing open terrain towards the high ground from the tree line.

He qualified and practised as a solicitor in Northampton, and served on the boards of several companies; his sound judgment made him a valued contributor to business as director.

[13] He became the Finance Director of Allied Breweries and, in 1958, he became chairman of Chamberlain Phipps, the Wellingborough manufacturer of adhesives, insulation, cladding and footwear components.

This was Heath's notorious 'U-turn' on industrial policy, in which a free market approach was abandoned in favour of a return to intervention, subsidy for 'lame ducks' and price controls.

[6] Boardman and his fellow junior minister, Peter Emery, represented the government in the negotiations that followed, in which the National Coal Board tabled a formula which offered the maximum allowed by Heath's "Stage Three" pay code, plus a further slice linked to productivity.

But any hope that the miners' leader, Joe Gormley, could persuade his executive to accept it was ended by the machinations of his hard-Left colleague Mick McGahey, who told Heath that he wanted to see the government fall.

Although others have criticised the National Coal Board for offering the miners too much too soon, Boardman always defended them, believing that the legislation made that inevitable and that any concessions would have to be found outside the code.

In an atmosphere of extreme tension, Boardman bore the brunt of administering the emergency measures, which involved a ban on non-essential uses of electricity and restrictions on heating in shops and offices.

[6] He was frequently called to Downing Street to take part in talks with leaders of the National Union of Mineworkers, and with representatives of the oil sheikdoms.

[5] Boardman showed his steel when he refused the gas workers a court of inquiry over their industrial dispute against Stage II of the prices and incomes policy: "There is nothing to inquire into," he told the Commons.

[13] Boardman was described by an admirer as "a politician of charm and ability", noted for his loyalty and for the meticulousness with which he prepared his case and redrafted every statement or document emanating from his office.

His only fault, according to his ministerial boss, Lord Walker, was that "he worked too hard and worried too much … I had great difficulty in seeing that Tom got enough sleep and relaxation at weekends"[6] His success as a minister was illustrated by his promotion to the post of Chief Secretary to the Treasury in the dying days of the Heath government,[4][15] but a long career on the front bench was denied him by the defeat of the Government in the February 1974 election and the loss of his own seat to the Labour Party's Jim Marshall in October 1974.

[5] He managed to buy the Tory central office site at Smith Square from Westminster council for £1.32m - enabling it to be sold for three times the amount only two years later.

"Our philosophy is, and was, and remains that we are going to be a major player in the global market," Boardman proclaimed in 1988[6] Changes at National Westminster during the Boardman era included returning to Saturday opening in 1985 after 16 years; waiving charges on current accounts in credit; becoming involved in the International Stock Exchange through the “Big Bang” deregulation of 1986; meeting the requirements of the 1986 Financial Services Act; and taking over First Jersey National Corporation of the US.

Unhappily though, some of his subordinates cut corners, notably at County NatWest, whose handling of the Blue Arrow takeover of Manpower was savaged by inspectors at the Department of Trade and Industry - to Boardman's fury.