Simon Robert Key (22 April 1945 – 2 February 2023) was a British Conservative Party politician. He previously served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Salisbury, Wiltshire. He also served as the Chair of Governors at Salisbury Cathedral School.
Key was born in Plymouth, the son of Maurice Key, who went on to become Bishop of Truro. He was part of a school walk on Swanage Beach in Dorset when he and six friends discovered an old wartime mine that detonated, killing only Key and one other boy.
He attended Salisbury Cathedral School before moving on to the independent Sherborne School. He earned an MA and a CertEd in economics from Clare College, Cambridge. He taught at the Loretto School in Edinburgh from 1967 to 1969, and then at Harrow School from 1969 to 1983.
In 1979, he ran for the seat of Holborn and St. Pancras South. Between 1983 and 2010, he served as a member of parliament for Salisbury. He also served as minister for local government and inner cities at the Department of the Environment (now DEFRA) from 1990 to 1992, establishing the Inner Cities Religious Council in 1991, and minister for sport at the Department of National Heritage (now Culture, Media, and Sport) from 1992 to 1993. From 1993 to 1994, he served as the minister of roads and traffic.
Robert Key (Politician) Wife: Was The Former Salisbury MP Married?
In 1968 in Perth, he wed Susan Irvine. Living in Harnham, they had a son and two daughters.