Nigel Lawson dies: The life of Thatcher’s chancellor, from political clashes to the Big Boom and climate scepticism
Nigel Lawson, chancellor to Margaret Thatcher, has died at the age of 91.
He leaves behind five of his six children, including TV chef Nigella Lawson and journalist Dominic Lawson. One of his daughters, Thomasina, died aged 32.
Born in Hampstead, northwest London, on 11 March 1932, the son of the owner of a tea-trading firm climbed his way to the top of British politics after an education at Westminster School and Oxford University.
His political life started at Oxford, where he did Philosophy, Politics and Economics – like many other politicians – but he began his working life carrying out national service as a Royal Navy officer.
Lord Lawson, as he was to become, then became a financial journalist, writing for the Financial Times and The Sunday Telegraph, before becoming editor of The Spectator.
After 14 years as a journalist, in 1970 he stood to become an MP, unsuccessfully, for the Eton and Slough seat before eventually winning the now-defunct Leicestershire constituency of Blaby four years later.
When the Conservatives won the election in 1979 under Mrs Thatcher, she made him financial secretary to the Treasury and her policies at the time clearly reflected his influence.
She then promoted him to energy secretary, where he helped prepare for what he called “inevitable” full-scale strikes in the coal industry, which had been nationalised by Labour prime minister Clement Attlee.
But it was as chancellor that Mr Lawson ensured he would go down in the history books.
Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet in 1983. Nigel Lawson is sitting third from the left
Tax cuts, the Big Bang and the Lawson Boom
The second longest-serving chancellor after Gordon Brown, Mr Lawson was key to Mrs Thatcher’s economic policies – and success.
After getting the job in 1983 he pushed ahead with tax reforms, reducing corporation taxes and lowering National Insurance contributions for the lower-paid, while extending the VAT base.
From 1986, his public image grew after he reduced the standard rate of personal income tax and unemployment began to fall.
He also managed to turn around government finances from a budget deficit of £10.5bn in 1983 to a surplus of £3.9bn in 1988 and £4.1bn in 1989.
However, the government’s current account deficit increased from below 1% GDP to almost 5% in three years.
Mr Lawson managed to honour his promise to bring taxation rates down, with the basic rate going from 30% to 25%, and the top tax rate from 60% to 40%. He also removed other higher rates so nobody paid above 40% in personal tax.
One of his major triumphs was the Big Bang of 1986, which saw the City’s financial markets deregulated and London strengthened as a financial capital – but in 2010, he admitted the “unintended consequence” of that was the 2007 financial crisis.
He even had a period of economic growth named after him. The Lawson Boom saw the UK economy on the up after 1986, with unemployment halved.
However, that led to a rise in inflation to 8% in 1988 and interest rates doubled to 15% within 18 months, with critics accusing Mr Lawson of unleashing an inflationary spiral due to his policies.
In his 1992 memoir, written just after he stepped down as an MP, Mr Lawson admitted the 1987 manifesto was not properly thought through and if it had not been for the economic growth, the manifesto would have been a disaster.
“As it was, it was merely an embarrassment,” he said.
Mr Lawson with a battered red Budget Box in 1987
Clashes with Thatcher
While he was Mrs Thatcher’s right-hand man, the pair did not always see eye-to-eye and he was overruled in cabinet when he opposed introducing a poll tax to replace local government financing.
There was also the now-infamous 1988 budget, which took nearly two hours for Mr Lawson to announce as there were continuous interruptions and protests from opposition parties.
The then-depute leader of the Scottish National Party, Alex Salmond, was suspended from the Commons for his constant interruptions and MPs voted against amending the law bill.
Nigel Lawson with Margaret Thatcher at the 1989 Conservative Party Conference
Mrs Thatcher and her chancellor also clashed over the exchange-rate mechanism (ERM) membership in 1985, with Mr Lawson – ironically, as he became a Brexiteer – believing membership was the only way forward to help convince the markets the UK was committed to fiscal discipline.
It proved to be one of Mrs Thatcher’s most tumultuous meetings with her senior ministers as she single-handedly faced them down after Mr Lawson had spoken separately to all of the ministers present to persuade them to ambush her.
Mr Lawson later said he had considered resigning after she said their arguments did not convince her, but he was dissuaded by colleagues. Mrs Thatcher was persuaded to sign up to the ERM five years later by Mr Lawson’s successor, John Major.
The prime minister’s relationship with her chancellor took another dive when she re-employed economist Alan Walters in 1989 as her personal economic adviser, with Mr Lawson at loggerheads with them over the ERM.
He threatened to resign if Mrs Thatcher did not sack Mr Walters over his support of the ERM. Mrs Thatcher wrote in a private memo that was “absurd” and urged him to rethink – and Mr Lawson quit.
National Archive files released in 2017 revealed the extent Mr Walters was briefing against Mr Lawson, including telling Mrs Thatcher that Mr Lawson’s position over the ERM was having a devastating impact on the UK economy.
Mr Lawson’s resignation was seen as the beginning of the end for Mrs Thatcher, with her foreign secretary Geoffrey Howe resigning shortly after – and Mrs Thatcher resigned in 1990 after Michael Heseltine decided to challenge her for leadership of the Conservative Party.
Post-Thatcher
Mr Lawson remained as a backbencher until 1992, when he was elevated to the House of Lords with a life peerage, and was known as Lord Lawson of Blaby.
Months after he stood down as an MP, he lost five stone after his doctor told him his knee problems would not stop if he continued to carry the weight.
It dramatically changed his appearance and he published The Nigel Lawson Diet Book, which became a best seller.
Previously 17 stone and 5ft 9, he had been an easy target for political cartoonists – although it did not bother him – and he admitted after losing weight: “I was certainly a fat man.
“It came up gradually, and by the time I was chancellor, certainly, that was the thing the cartoonists seized on; that was part of the image – no doubt about it.”
Mr Lawson used his time away from the Commons to occasionally appear as a guest on daughter Nigella’s cookery shows.
He also served on the advisory board of the Conservative magazine Standpoint.
Two wives, six children
Mr Lawson was married twice. His first wife was former ballet dancer Vanessa Salmon with whom he had Dominic (the journalist), Thomasina (who died of breast cancer aged 32), Nigella (the TV chef) and Horatia. After they divorced, Ms Salmon died of liver cancer aged 48.
His second wife was former Commons researcher Therese Maclear, who he married the same year he divorced Ms Salmon. They had son Tom and daughter Emily before they divorced in 2008.
Nigel Lawson with his TV chef daughter Nigella Lawson in 2008
In 2011, he found love again at the age of 79 with 42-year-old Dr Tina Jennings, a former banker who was previously married to New Zealand’s richest man.
However, they split up two years later, with Dr Jennings reportedly finding it hard to go regularly to France, which Mr Lawson did every weekend.
Controversial support for Brexit
In 2009, Mr Lawson was caught up in the parliamentary expenses scandal after he was accused of claiming £16,000 in overnight allowances by registering his farmhouse in Gascony, southwest France, as his main residence.
In 2013, the former chancellor pushed for the UK to leave the EU and ahead of the 2016 referendum he was appointed chairman of the Vote Leave campaign.
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Nigel Lawson on George Osborne’s 2016 Autumn Statement
At the time, he was living in France and in 2018 started to apply for his official French residency card.
His critics accused him of hypocrisy for living in France yet campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, but he said he did not believe the issue of Britons living in other EU countries was a big problem in the Brexit negotiations.
In 2019, Mr Lawson returned to live in the UK after putting his Gascony mansion on the market. He said it was to be close to his children and grandchildren.
Climate scepticism
In opposition to Mrs Thatcher, who helped put climate change on the agenda, Mr Lawson was very sceptical of the concept and denied global warming is taking place to such a large degree as many scientists say.
He wrote a letter in 2004 criticising the Kyoto Protocol and claiming there were substantial scientific uncertainties.
As a member of the House of Lords Economics Affairs Select Committee, he carried out an inquiry into climate change in 2005 and recommended the Treasury take a more active role in climate policy.
The report said there was a mismatch between the economic costs and the benefits of climate policy – which kicked off a tussle between him and Michael Grubb, chief economist of the Carbon Trust.
He contributed to the 2007 documentary The Great Global Warming Swindle and in 2008 published a book called An Appeal to Reason: A Cool Look at Global Warming.
In the book, he admitted global warming is happening and will have negative consequences but said the impact of those changes will be moderate rather than apocalyptic, and criticised “alarmist” politicians and scientists.
He was heavily denounced by climate scientists and the UK’s chief scientific adviser at the time, Sir John Beddington, who privately told Mr Lawson he had “incorrect” and “misleading” claims in the book.
But that did not stop him airing his views, and in 2009 he launched a new thinktank called The Global Warming Policy Foundation.
His journalist son, Dominic Lawson, is also a climate change sceptic.
The teenager accused of killing three girls in a knife attack at a dance class in Southport in July last year has pleaded guilty to their murders.
Axel Rudakubana, 18, from Lancashire, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on what was due to be the first day of his trial on Monday.
He refused to stand or confirm his name but then pleaded guilty to the murders of Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven.
He also admitted 10 counts of attempted murder and possession of a kitchen knife over the attack in the Merseyside town on 29 July.
A court artist sketch of Rudakubana at an earlier hearing. Pic: PA
Eight other children, aged between seven and 13, were injured in the mass stabbing at The Hart Space, along with yoga instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Rudakubana was aged 17 at the time of the attack, which has not been declared terror-related, according to Merseyside Police.
He further pleaded guilty to charges of producing ricin and possessing an al Qaeda training manual allegedly found in searches of his home in Banks, Lancashire, in the following days.
The judge, Mr Justice Goose said he will sentence the teenager on Thursday.
Rudakubana remained seated in the dock as he entered the guilty pleas, while none of the victims’ family members were in court as the trial had been expected to open on Tuesday.
Wearing a grey tracksuit and surgical face mask, he showed no emotion as he was taken down to the cells surrounded by four dock officers and an an intermediary.
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Jeremy Corbyn has agreed to be interviewed under caution by police following a pro-Palestinian rally in central London, Sky News understands.
The former Labour leader, 75, voluntarily attended a police station in the capital this afternoon.
The BBC reports that John McDonnell, 73, who was the shadow chancellor during Mr Corbyn’s leadership, also agreed to be voluntarily interviewed.
Sky News saw the pair leaving Charing Cross Police station this afternoon. They declined to comment when approached.
Nine other people have been charged with public order offences following arrests at the protest organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) on Saturday.
The Met said they witnessed a “deliberate effort, including by protest organisers” to breach conditions that had been imposed on the event.
This has been denied by the PSC, who have accused the Met of heavy-handed tactics.
The protest came as Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and hostage release deal following the 15-month-long war in Gaza.
Police said the organisers had agreed the protest would be static, to prevent crowds forming in the vicinity of a synagogue located a short distance from the BBC’s headquarters near Portland Place.
In a statement on Sunday, the Met said those who have been charged with breaching the conditions, which includes Mr Corbyn’s brother Piers, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in the coming days.
It added that three men had agreed to attend voluntarily at a Central London Police Station today to be interviewed under caution.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn listen to Chancellor Rishi Sunak delivering his Budget in the House of Commons, London.
Giving only their ages, the Met said: “The 75-year-old, 73-year-old, and 61-year-old will be interviewed by officers this afternoon”.
Commander Adam Slonecki, who led the policing operation, said: “Yesterday we saw a deliberate effort, including by protest organisers, to breach conditions and attempt to march out of Whitehall.
“This was a serious escalation in criminality and one which we are taking incredibly seriously. Officers have worked around the clock to pursue those involved.
“We will continue to work through CCTV footage, videos from social media and our body-worn cameras so we can make further arrests and bring forward charges where we identify criminality.”
However, the PSC has accused the Met of promoting “a misleading narrative about the events” in “claiming that a peaceful delegation pushed through police lines”.
The PSC said that after the Met banned their march to the BBC, they made clear they intended to protest against that “anti-democratic” decision if the restrictions were not lifted, by walking “silently and peacefully” towards the broadcaster’s offices.
They claimed that when they reached the police line, they were invited to continue walking towards Trafalgar Square.
Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell also disputed the police version of events.
In response to a police social media post claiming protesters “forced their way through” police lines, Mr Corbyn wrote: “This is not an accurate description of events at all.
“I was part of a delegation of speakers, who wished to peacefully carry and lay flowers in memory of children in Gaza who had been killed.”
“This was facilitated by the police. We did not force our way through.”
This was echoed by Mr Mcdonnell who said: “I spoke at demo & was part of a procession of speakers aiming to go to BBC to lay flowers commemorating the death of Palestinian children. We did not force our way thru, the police allowed us to go thru & when stopped in Trafalgar Square we laid our flowers down & dispersed.”
Mr Corbyn now sits as the independent MP for Islington North after successfully running against his former party at the general election, following his suspension over an antisemitism row.
Mr McDonnell currently sits as an independent, having lost the whip for six months in July last year for voting against the government over the child benefit cap.
UK
Government ‘doesn’t think’ Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on UK – but is ‘prepared for all scenarios’
The government doesn’t think Donald Trump will impose trade tariffs on the UK, but is “prepared for all scenarios”, a cabinet minister has said.
Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the former president’s return to the White House “could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities”.
Mr Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on all imports into the United States, singling out Canada, Mexico, and China as countries that could face steeper measures within hours of his inauguration on Monday.
Asked what the government will do if that happens to the UK, Mr Jones said that was a “hypothetical” question and to wait and see “what actually happens”.
Politics Hub: Trump ‘within his right’ to make statement on tariffs
“If that were to happen, I will come back and lay out the details for you. But the point is, is that I don’t think we’re going to be in that scenario,” Mr Jones said.
Darren Jones
He said there is a narrative in the UK that Mr Trump’s presidency poses “a big risk for Britain”, when this isn’t the case.
“Britain is a brilliant country with huge capabilities and assets which are valued not just to the British people, but to the American economy and other parts of the world,” he said.
“I have no doubt whatsoever that under the Trump administration there are going to be plenty of opportunities that we can seize, and we should be positive about that and be strong about securing this deal.”
Mr Jones confirmed there is ultimately a plan if tariffs are imposed, but said it isn’t for him “to lay out the details in advance of something actually happening on TV”.
“It’s not breaking news that the government prepares for all scenarios,” he added.
“My broader point is that we shouldn’t be looking at president-elect Trump’s inauguration as a risk, or a bad thing for the UK. It could be an enormously positive thing with lots of opportunities.”
President-elect Trump will be sworn in to a second term in office on Monday, following his election victory in November, and there have been concerns over what his pledged tariffs could mean for economies around the globe.
The former businessman has been clear he plans to pick up where he left off in 2021 by taxing goods coming into the country, making them more expensive, in a bid to protect US industry and jobs.
Read more:
Trump tariff threat prompts IMF warning
What Trump’s tariffs could mean for UK, EU, China and the world
UK ‘should pursue free trade deal’ with US
Shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel, who is in Washington DC for the inauguration, said Mr Trump is “within his rights to make the statements that he wants around tariffs… but as ever this is a discussion and a negotiation”.
Priti Patel in Washington DC
She said the Labour government should resume her party’s talks over a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US and “not even enter into these discussions around tariffs”.
A trade deal with the US had been set as a priority in the Conservative’s 2019 manifesto but was not achieved by the time of the general election in July last year, which they lost.
Ms Patel went on to call Reform UK leader Nigel Farage a “pop-up act” and “not relevant” when asked if her party should make peace with him to get on well with Mr Trump, given the close relationship of the pair.
She said the Conservatives and Republicans are “sister parties” with “enduring, long-standing ties”.
“We’re not a pop-up act in the way in which they [Reform UK] are… so I don’t think that’s particularly relevant,” she said.
However, the Lib Dems accused the former home secretary of “competing with Reform to be most submissive toward Trump”.
Confidence in Mandelson’s appointment
Mr Trump’s inauguration has also caused a stir after reports in the Sunday papers suggested he could reject Lord Peter Mandelson as Sir Keir Starmer’s nomination for the UK’s ambassador to the US.
The Labour grandee has been critical of Mr Trump in the past, and was last month branded an “absolute moron” by a Trump campaigner.
Lord Mandelson. Pic: PA
However Mr Jones signalled he was confident that the Blair-era minister would take up his position, telling Sky News he “doubts very much” the media reports are true.
“It’s probably being propagated by some politicians that would like to cause a bit of a nuisance. I doubt that will be the case.”
Govt ‘doesn’t agree’ with Khan’s Trump comments
Mr Jones was also forced to distance himself from comments made by Labour’s Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
Mr Khan has warned of a century-defining battle against “resurgent fascism”, writing in The Observer that “these are deeply worrying times, especially if you’re a member of a minority community”.
Mr Jones said he does not associate with that language and questions about it “are for Sadiq to answer.”
He later told the BBC: “I speak on behalf of the government and we don’t agree with it.”
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