Baroness Trumpington dead – Lords V-flicker who was chatted up by Lloyd George and appeared on Have I Got News for You died aged 96

IT was the picture that spoke a thousand words – and summed up her character perfectly.

The image of Baroness Trumpington sticking two fingers up at a Tory peer in the House of Lords for describing people who had served in World War Two as “pretty old” became an internet sensation seven years ago.

And it made the former Bletchley Park codebreaker, who died in her sleep on Monday at the age of 96, a household name.

Born Jean Campbell-Harris, the late Conservative politician carved out a reputation as a badass baroness.

When asked why she had chosen the name Trumpington on joining the Lords, she replied that she only knew two villages in Cambridgeshire, adding: “One was called Trumpington and the other was called Six Mile Bottom. Which one would you have chosen?”

Born to a womanising Army Major and an American heiress — who lost her inheritance in the 1929 Wall Street Crash — Jean made for an unlikely anarchist in her twinset and pearls.

But growing up near Sandwich, Kent, the straight talker soon began to upset the traditional order.

Shunned by other girls at school, she chose instead “to go with the local boys to the woods and smoke”.

At the outbreak of World War Two she went to work as an agricultural Land Girl on the country estate of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George.

Six-foot Jean said that when the “old goat” tried to get close to her “flesh” by finding excuses to measure her, she made it clear his attentions were not welcome.

At just 18 she showed she had the brains needed to serve in naval intelligence at Bletchley Park — despite having left school without any qualifications.

Fluent in French and German, she transcribed messages from German submarines for the codebreakers at the spy agency. She once recalled: “Life only really began when I went to Bletchley. It was exciting being a part of something important.

“We used to meet up in Claridge’s, and throw bread at each other and sing and behave so badly.”

After the war she partied at the Ritz in Paris. But her time in France ended in embarrassment when she ran up and down the beaches of Normandy naked.

Seeking further adventure she joined an ad agency in America. It was while in the States that she fell for husband Alan Barker.

Alan, a hero officer who lost an eye fighting in the Battle of Monte Cassino in Italy, became headmaster at the private The Leys School in Cambridge between 1958 and 1975, during which time Jean became involved in local politics.

After serving in several government posts, she was given a life peerage in 1980. And she was soon causing a storm.

The baroness upset animal rights groups by suggesting sheep could be used to clear landmines during the Falklands War.

She also called for a relaxation in Sunday pub opening laws and defended the right to smoke, which she continued to do while a health minister. When she eventually gave gave up aged 79, she said it was only because the habit was too expensive.

In 2012, the year after her two-fingered salute, she became the oldest guest on BBC show Have I Got News For You.

When host Jack Whitehall joked she might be pregnant at the age of 90, she quipped: “You should know.”

Baroness Trumpington leaves son Adam Campbell Barker.

Paying tribute on Monday he said: “She had a bloody good innings.”

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