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 Holborn and St Pancras South constituency. Between 1983 and 2010, he served as the Member of Parliament for Salisbury. He was Minister for Local Government and Inner Cities in the Department of the Environment (now DEFRA) from 1990-2, establishing the Inner Cities Religious Council in 1991, and Minister for Sport in the Department of National Heritage (now Culture, Media and Sport) from 1992-3. From 1993 to 1994, he was the Minister of Roads and Traffic.
During the leadership of William Hague and Iain Duncan Smith, Key served as a front-bencher spokesman: in 2001, he was the shadow minister for Science and Energy, and in July 2002, he was the shadow minister for International Development. He resigned from this position in June 2003, returning to the backbenches but continuing to serve on the Defence Select Committee.
Robert Key (Politician) Children: Did The Former Salisbury MP Have Kids?
In 1968, he married Susan Irvine in Perth. They lived in Harnham with their one son and two daughters. Unfortunately, the names of his children are unknown.