Baker, Kenneth Wilfrid (1934– )

British Conservative politician, home secretary 1990–92. He was environment secretary 1985–86, education secretary 1986–89, and chair of the Conservative Party 1989–90, retaining his cabinet seat, before becoming home secretary in John Major's government. After his dismissal in 1992, he became a frequent government critic. He retired as a member of Parliament in 1997 and moved to the House of Lords, as Lord Baker of Dorking.

As minister for industry and information technology in Margaret Thatcher's first Conservative government, 1979–83, he oversaw the privatization of British Telecom, the first example of the privatization of a public utility.