Nigel Lawson

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lord Temporal
Life peerage
6 July 1992 – 31 December 2022
Member of Parliament
for Blaby
In office
28 February 1974 – 16 March 1992
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byAndrew Robathan
Personal details
Born
Nigel Lawson

(1932-03-11)11 March 1932
Hampstead, London, England
Died3 April 2023(2023-04-03) (aged 91)
Eastbourne, England
Political partyConservative
Spouses
  • Vanessa Salmon
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1955; div. 1980)​
  • Thérèse Maclear
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1980; div. 2012)​
Children6, including Dominic and Nigella
EducationWestminster School
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceRoyal Navy
Years of service1954–1956
RankLieutenant commander
CommandsHMS Gay Charger
Part of the politics series on
Thatcherism
Margaret Thatcher
Philosophy
People
Organisations
Related movements

Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby,

privatisation of several key industries.[1]

Lawson was a

critic of the EU. He also served as the chairman of the think tank The Global Warming Policy Foundation and was an active supporter of Vote Leave
.

Lawson was the father of six children, including

celebrity cook, Dominic Lawson, a journalist, and Tom Lawson, headmaster of Eastbourne College
.

Early life and education

Nigel Lawson was born on 11 March 1932 to a non-

British citizen in 1911.[7]

Lawson was a great-nephew of the pianist Myra Hess.[1]

Lawson was educated at

first-class honours degree in philosophy, politics and economics.[10]

Life and career

For two years from 1954, Lawson carried out his National Service as a Royal Navy officer, during which time he commanded the fast-patrol boat HMS Gay Charger.[1][11]

Having been turned down for a career at the

Lex column. He progressed to become City editor of The Sunday Telegraph in 1961, where he introduced Jim Slater's Capitalist investing column.[1]

Early political career

In 1963, Lawson was recruited by

Sir Alec Douglas-Home in the lead-up to the 1964 general election.[1]

After returning to journalism as editor of

Eton and Slough constituency in 1968.[1] He contested the seat unsuccessfully at the 1970 general election, before becoming Member of Parliament (MP) for Blaby in Leicestershire in February 1974, holding the seat until he retired at the 1992 general election.[12]

In 1977, while an

tax burden being increased by inflation (typically in excess of 10% per annum during that parliament).[13][1]

In government

Financial Secretary to the Treasury

On

exchange controls in October 1979 and the publication of the Medium Term financial Strategy.[15] This document set the course for both the monetary and fiscal sides of the new government's economic policy, though the extent to which the subsequent trajectory of policy and outcome matched that projected is still a matter for debate.[15]

Secretary of State for Energy

In the

British Telecom, and British Gas.[20]

Chancellor of the Exchequer

[A] mixture of

Victorian values" (of the Samuel Smiles self-help variety), privatisation and a dash of populism
.

Lawson's definition of Thatcherism[21]

Following the Thatcher government's re-election in 1983, Lawson was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer, succeeding Geoffrey Howe. The early years of Lawson's chancellorship were associated with tax reform. The 1984 budget reformed corporate taxes by a combination of reduced rates and reduced allowances. The 1985 budget continued the trend of shifting from direct to indirect taxes by reducing National Insurance contributions for the lower-paid while extending the base of value-added tax.[22][23]

During these two years, Lawson's public image remained low-key, but from the

private-sector behaviour is no reason for concern.[24] During his tenure, the rate of taxation also came down. The basic rate was reduced from 30 per cent in 1983 to 25 per cent by 1988. The top rate of tax also came down from 60 per cent to 40 per cent in 1988, and the four other higher rates were removed, leaving a system of personal taxation in which there was no rate anywhere in excess of 40 per cent.[25][26]

In 1986, the City of London's

financial crisis of 2007–2008.[27]

The trajectory taken by the

inflationary spiral.[30][31]

In his defence, Lawson attributed the boom largely to the effects of various measures of

financial deregulation.[19] Insofar as Lawson acknowledged policy errors, he attributed them to a failure to raise interest rates during 1986 and considered that had Thatcher not vetoed the UK joining the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in November 1985 it might have been possible to adjust to these beneficial changes in the arena of microeconomics with less macroeconomics turbulence. Lawson also ascribed the difficulty of conducting monetary policy to Goodhart's law.[32][33]

Lawson's tax cuts, beginning in 1986, resulted in the "Lawson Boom" of the British economy, which halved unemployment from more than 3,000,000 by the end of 1989.[34] However, this may have led to a rise in inflation from 3 per cent to more than 8 per cent during 1988, which resulted in interest rates doubling to 15 per cent in the space of 18 months, and remaining high despite the 1990–1992 recession which saw unemployment rise nearly as high as the level seen before the boom began.[35]

Lawson reflected on the 1987 general election in his memoir and wrote that the 1987 manifesto was not thought through properly and if it had not been for the economic growth of the country at the time, then the manifesto would have been a disaster because "as it was, it was merely an embarrassment".[36][37]

The March 1988 budget was remembered for taking almost two hours to deliver due to continuous interruptions and protest from opposition members. Scottish National Party MP Alex Salmond was suspended from the House, and several MPs voted against the amendment of the law bill (which is typically agreed by all members of the House).[38][39]

Lawson opposed the introduction of the

Department of the Environment).[22]

The issue of exchange-rate mechanism membership continued to fester between Lawson and Thatcher and was exacerbated by the re-employment by Thatcher of Alan Walters as a personal economic adviser.[40]

Resignation

After a further year in office in these circumstances, Lawson felt that public criticism from Walters (who favoured a floating exchange rate) was making his job impossible and he resigned.[41][42] He was succeeded in the office of chancellor by John Major.[43]

Lawson's six-year tenure as Chancellor of the Exchequer was longer than that of any of his predecessors since David Lloyd George, who served from 1908 to 1915.[44] Both men's records were subsequently beaten by Labour's Gordon Brown, who was chancellor from 1997 to 2007.[45]

Retirement

Lawson in 2013

After retiring from

weight problem. He was 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall; he lost five stone (70 pounds, 30 kg) from 17 stone, or 238 pounds (108 kg) to 12 stone, or 168 pounds (76 kilograms) – (BMI 34 to 24) in a matter of a few months, dramatically changing his appearance, and went on to publish the best-selling The Nigel Lawson Diet Book.[46]

On 1 July 1992, Lawson was given a

County of Northamptonshire.[12][47]

In 1996, Lawson appeared on the

cookery shows
.

Lawson served on the advisory board of the Conservative magazine Standpoint.[49]

In 2013, Lawson advocated

2016 EU referendum, he supported Leave and was appointed chairman of the Vote Leave campaign.[51][52][53]

Corporate roles

Expenses scandal

During the

main residence.[56]

Position on global warming

Lawson was involved with the

man-made global warming had been exaggerated.[57]

In 2004, along with six others, Lawson wrote a letter to

IPCC process, and suggested changes in the UK's contribution to future international climate change negotiations.[59] The report cited a mismatch between the economic costs and benefits of climate policy and also criticised the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets set in the Kyoto Protocol. In response to the report, Michael Grubb, chief economist of the Carbon Trust, wrote an article in Prospect magazine, defending the Kyoto Protocol and describing the committee's report as being "strikingly inconsistent".[60] Lawson responded to Grubb's article, describing it as an example of the "intellectual bankruptcy of the [...] climate change establishment". Lawson also said that Kyoto's approach was "wrong-headed" and called on the IPCC to be "shut down".[61]

At about the same time as the release of the House of Lords report, the UK Government launched the

Lord Stern of Brentford. According to the Stern Review, published in 2006, the potential costs of climate change far exceed the costs of a programme to stabilise the climate. Lawson's lecture to the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) think tank, published 1 November 2006, opposed the Stern Review and advocated adaptation to changes in global climate rather than reducing greenhouse gas emissions.[62]

In 2008, Lawson published a book expanding on his 2006 lecture to the CPS,

alarmist" politicians and scientists who predict catastrophe unless urgent action
is taken.

In July 2008, the Conservative magazine Standpoint published a transcript of a double interview with Lawson and Conservative Policy Chief Oliver Letwin, in which Lawson described Letwin's views on global warming as "pie in the sky" and called on him and the Conservative frontbench to "get real".[64]

On 23 November 2009, Lawson became chairman of a new think tank, The Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF),[12][65] a registered education charity,[66] involved in promoting climate change denial.[57]

In 2011,

Grantham Research Institute said that the GWPF was "spreading errors" and "the 'facts'" Lawson "repeats are demonstrably inaccurate".[67] Ward also criticised Lawson for repeating in a 2010 BBC radio debate that Antarctic ice volumes were unchanged even after his error was highlighted by his opponent, Professor Kevin Anderson.[67] Ward said that Lawson provided no evidence to back his claim which is contrary to satellite measurements, and Lawson similarly incorrectly implied that the correlation between CO2 and sea levels was uncertain as well as that sea levels were rising more slowly since 1950 than before it.[67]

The

Independent on Sunday.[68][69]

In a BBC Radio interview in August 2017, Lawson claimed that "official figures" showed "average world temperature has slightly declined" over the preceding decade and that experts in the IPCC found no increase in extreme weather events. In a follow-up programme on the BBC's presentation of these claims, Peter A. Stott of the Met Office said Lawson was wrong on both points.[70]

Economy

Lawson was a critic of David Cameron's coalition government economic policy, describing spending cuts consultation plans as a "PR ploy".[71] In November 2011, he called for the "orderly" dismantling of the eurozone.[72]

In the media

Lawson was interviewed about the rise of Thatcherism for the 2006

BBC TV documentary series Tory! Tory! Tory!.[73]

In 2010, he appeared on the

high street banks and put their depositors' savings at risk.[74]

In 2019, he appeared on the BBC documentary series Thatcher: A Very British Revolution,[75] and discussed Thatcher's rise and fall.

In a debate with other former cabinet ministers and prominent journalists, Lawson argued that political life is more in need of ideas and direction than grand political visions.[76]

Personal life

In 1955 Lawson married Vanessa Mary Addison Salmon (1936−1985), granddaughter of the

Lyons Corner House chairman Alfred Salmon, and had four children:[77][page needed
]

  • Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born 1956), journalist
  • Nigella Lucy Lawson
    (born 1960), cook and author
  • Thomasina Posy Lawson (1961–1993), who died from breast cancer at the age of 32
  • Horatia Holly Lawson (born 1966)

After his first marriage was dissolved in 1980, he married Thérèse Mary Maclear (1947–2023),[78][79] daughter of Henry Charles Maclear Bate, the same year. They had two children:[77]

  • Thomas Nigel Maclear Lawson (born 1976), headmaster of Eastbourne College since 2016
  • Emily Hero Lawson (born 1981), television producer

Lawson's second marriage was dissolved in 2012. In later life, he was in a relationship with Dr Tina Jennings, a

visiting fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford.[80]

Residence in France

In retirement, Lawson divided his time between his flat in London and a neoclassical farmhouse in

tax resident of the UK and was selling his house in France.[84]

Death and tributes

Lawson died at his home in

Sir Keir Starmer commented that he was a "real powerhouse".[88]

Published works

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Retirement of One Member (Retirement List)". House of Lords Business. UK Parliament. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
  3. The Glasgow Herald. 15 September 1981. p. 8 – via Google News Archive
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  5. ^ Lawson 1992, p. 3.
  6. ^ "No. 33063". The London Gazette. 3 July 1925. p. 4501.
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Further reading

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Nigel Lawson.
Media offices
Preceded by Editor of The Spectator
1966–1970 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Blaby
1974–1992 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Sheldon
 Financial Secretary to the Treasury
1979–1981 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Energy
1981–1983 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Exchequer
1983–1989 		Succeeded by
Second Lord of the Treasury

1983–1989
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