After an unsuccessful attempt to be elected as MP for
Don Valley at the
1979 general election, Freeman was elected as MP for
Kettering in
1983. Before joining the Cabinet, he served as
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Armed Forces (1986–88),
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Health (1988–90), and
Minister for Public Transport (1990–1995) ranking as
Minister of State. In that post he was responsible for steering through the House of Commons the Railways Bill, providing for the
privatisation of British Rail and enacted as the
Railways Act 1993. At the time he achieved a degree of notoriety with his comment on a "cheap and cheerful" rail service being provided for typists. In the
1993 Birthday Honours, Freeman was sworn of the
Privy Council. In 1995, he was brought into the Cabinet by
John Major as
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In this role, he made a ministerial visit to
Lancaster Royal Grammar School in 1995. He also inaugurated the process of
privatisation of
HM Stationery Office (HMSO), though as a former minister for
MOD Procurement, one of HMSO's major customers, he could be adjudged to have had a
conflict of interest. He therefore misjudged the effect of privatisation on HMSO, which, rather than preserve the business as a whole, and protecting jobs, hastened the already-established process of splitting the business into its various parts, resulting in the destruction of some, and the sale of others to foreign owners. The loss of jobs has been massive. The
National Audit Office later denounced the whole process as a debacle. It could be argued that he, along with his colleague Lord North in the other place, may have misled the house. 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". Freeman quipped: "Well, I can't just start turning up to work in a jumper!". Freeman's remark though was better-judged than any viewer might have realised at the time. The
Major government's strategy weekend where Cabinet members arrived wearing jumpers was much lampooned. 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. He sat in the
House of Lords until his retirement on 1 October 2020. ==Charitable associations==