Critics accused him of helping to stir up the bloody lynching of students by anticommunist vigilantes and police at Bangkok’s Thammasat University in 1976, an infamous episode that led to a military coup.
His colorful vocabulary earned him the nickname “Dog Mouth’’ among critics. He was a belligerent debater in and outside of Parliament. When a female Thai reporter last year inquired about rumors of infighting within his party, he snapped back: “Did you have sinful sex last night?’’
Generally, however, his belligerence gave way over the years to a sort of grandfatherly grumpiness, and many supporters remembered him best for his TV show called “Tasting and Complaining,’’ a mix of traditional Thai cooking and rants on pet subjects.
Early on, Mr. Samak established his trademarks - right-wing ideology, a common touch that endeared him to some, and a bias against freewheeling democracy and the press, a “burden on development,’’ he once called reporters whom he periodically berated for “lousy’’ questions.
With Bangkok as his power base, he held eight Cabinet posts and served more than 20 years as a member of Parliament. But it was only by agreeing to act as a stand-in for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - who was ousted by a 2006 military coup and barred from politics - that he attained the nation’s highest political office.
A Bangkok native with aristocratic lineage, Mr. Samak began his political career in Bangkok in 1968 with the middle-of-the-road Democrat Party, aligning himself with its conservative faction. He gravitated toward the extreme right after the country’s 1973 student revolution toppled a military dictatorship.
Mr. Samak’s tenure as prime minister coincided with one of the worst political crises in Thailand’s history. As the proxy for Thaksin, who was living in exile, Mr. Samak became the focus of street rallies by anti-Thaksin protesters who demanded his resignation.
A court ruled in September 2008 that Mr. Samak’s acceptance of payments for appearing on his TV cooking show while prime minister constituted a conflict of interest, and kicked him out of office.
