How Nigel Lawson turned postwar economic consensus on its head
Former chancellor fundamentally changed the UK economy during his six-year stint at the Treasury, and not much has changed since then
Enoch Powell famously said all political careers end in failure and that was certainly true of Nigel Lawson, whose death at 91 was announced on Monday. His six-year spell at the Treasury ended with the economy stricken by a classic British boom-bust cycle, which left unemployment at more than 3 million and record number of home repossessions.
That said, only a handful of chancellors have a lasting legacy when they leave office, and Lawson was one of them. Like Gordon Brown - another of the rare breed of politicians who made a difference - he had a clear idea of what he thought needed to be done to make the economy work more effectively and pursued his goals in a single-minded fashion.
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