Nigel Lawson, UK Chancellor in Thatcher Boom Years, Dies at 91

(Bloomberg) -- Nigel Lawson, the chancellor of the exchequer who presided over the boom-and-bust of Margaret Thatcher’s Britain in the 1980s, has died. He was 91.

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His death was reported by the Daily Telegraph on April 3. It didn’t give details.

Lawson, one of the Conservative Party’s best known figures, remained in politics for nearly half a century after he was first elected as a member of the House of Commons for Blaby in Leicestershire, central England, in 1974 — a position he held until 1992. After retiring from the lower chamber, he was nominated to the upper, unelected House of Lords, in which he remained active until December 31, 2022.

A late convert to the anti-European Union cause, Lawson was a leading campaigner to exit the bloc, clashing with Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s push to keep Britain in. He was also an outspoken global-warming skeptic, holding the belief that man-made climate change was an exaggeration.

Lawson was born March 11, 1932, in London, into a commodity-trading family. After graduating with a first-class degree in politics, philosophy and economics from Oxford University, he started his career as a journalist for the Financial Times. He progressed to become City editor of the Sunday Telegraph, before quitting the media to become a lawmaker.

Rapid Rise

After Thatcher became prime minister in 1979, he swiftly rose through the political ranks, serving in her cabinet from 1981 to 1989. After two years as energy secretary, he was appointed as chancellor in June 1983.

His tenure came to an abrupt end with his resignation in 1989. The move, which surprised both commentators and the cabinet, followed months of disagreements with Thatcher and her personal economic adviser, Alan Walters, with Lawson complaining of their interference in his handling of economic policy. At the heart of the dispute was Lawson’s push for Britain to join the European Exchange-Rate Mechanism. Both Walters and Thatcher disagreed, eventually prompting Lawson’s decision to step down.

While in Thatcher’s cabinet, Lawson actively championed the privatization and deregulation programs that were credited with driving Britain’s economic revival in the 1980s — though he also sparked accusations in later years that he allowed the boom conditions that led the economy to crash.

‘Visionary’ Politician

“In some ways, Lawson could be described as a visionary,” said Wyn Grant, professor of politics at Warwick University, said before his death. “He pushed through a lot of changes. His position at the end was made very difficult. But he left with his integrity intact.”

Lawson oversaw the so-called Big Bang in 1986, during which financial markets were deregulated. The measures, which included scrapping fixed commission charges and the change from open-outcry to electronic, screen-based trading, led to a surge in market activity on the day of their introduction.

Lawson, who married twice, was the father of six children, including celebrity cook Nigella Lawson and journalist Dominic Lawson.

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