What I learned from Nigel Lawson

The memory of Nigel Lawson will always be a blessing. He was the embodiment of serious radicalism, a politician who changed Britain for the better – and for good.

When I became chancellor, I hung a picture of Nigel behind my desk in No. 11. It was a large photograph of him holding up his red Budget box. It was an image which summed up the intellectual confidence that he brought to the job. But it was also a reminder of the sheer amount of preparation, hard work and attention to detail that he had put in to get the party and the government into a position where it could do those radical things.

He had an exceptional analytical brain and great political courage – the ability to diagnose what was wrong with our economy and the bravery to stay the course as he addressed these problems, despite the criticisms and brickbats he received along the way. He left us with a far simpler tax code and one that moved us away from the penally high rates that had become a feature of the postwar system.

One of the lessons I take from Nigel’s life is that the greater the mission, the more thorough the preparation must be. As financial secretary to the Treasury, he formulated the medium-term financial plan for Geoffrey Howe and Margaret Thatcher which was based on the premise that public spending and inflation must be controlled before taxes can be cut substantially.

When he became energy secretary, he did not plunge into head-on confrontation with the National Union of Mineworkers. Rather, he began the policy of stockpiling coal which allowed the country to make it through the miners’ strike and to defeat Arthur Scargill’s anti-democratic approach.

Mrs Thatcher, Nigel and their allies turned the intellectual tide in this country. It is hard to believe that before them, the state owned Pickfords removals and the Gleneagles Hotel. Who today would think that it was sensible to have a state-run removal company or hotel? That is a sign of their intellectual victory.

Nigel was not just a tax-cutter, but also a believer in the importance of encouraging competition. One of this country’s great strengths is financial services, where we continue to lead the world. As I started my career, I was acutely conscious that the City’s continuing global strength came in large part from the Big Bang reforms that Nigel had introduced. By sweeping away centuries-old restrictive practices, he made our financial services globally competitive. 

Nigel’s willingness to think about the future could also be seen in his leadership on Brexit. He understood that in the fast-moving 21st century there are great and profound benefits to the freedom of action and democratic control that being out of the European Union brings. 

As chancellor, one of the greatest honours I had was visiting Nigel at his home in Sussex. He was clear-eyed and instructive about tax reform, how he had done it and the principles that it should be based on.

In the summer, I was grateful when Nigel endorsed me. I was trailing in the polls and there was little benefit to him in getting involved. But he came forward to make the argument that ‘the only way to substantial, lasting reductions in taxation was first to tackle inflation’. It was typical of his lust for debate and the care he had for the institutions that he had been involved in all his life.

Nigel was not only a great Conservative, but a great journalist. He edited this magazine with distinction and in its pages began to set out the ideas that he would put into practice in office. It says much about his belief in the power of argument that Nigel carried on writing for The Spectator when he wished to challenge a consensus, something of which he was instinctively suspicious. 

When you leave office as chancellor, you are invited to pick a cartoon of yourself to adorn the No. 11 staircase. Many chancellors choose one that reflects their most difficult moment in office. But Nigel’s selection was of him contentedly sitting on a riverbank hauling in fish after fish. It said much about his attitude to life. Let us be inspired not only by that confidence but by the combination of reason, courage and seriousness with which Nigel approached his task.