Skip to main content
Britain's decline is Nigel Lawson's legacy
An early adherent of free-market fundamentalism, at Thatcher's side throughout her most damaging years, Lawson attacked our unions, industry and the very fabric of our society, writes JAMES MEADWAY
Nigel Lawson, applauded by then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, at the end of his speech during the Conservative Party's annual conference in 1988

THE former Tory Party chancellor Nigel Lawson, who died last week aged 91, had become better known in his later years as an indefatigable champion of the cause of climate change denial.

His efforts to minimise perceptions of the damage of greenhouse gas emissions, and forestall action on decarbonisation, played their own small part in condemning future generations to lives that will be harder and more squalid than they ever needed to be.

But it was as the primary architect of Britain’s free-market turn, and Margaret Thatcher’s sometime right-hand man, that Lawson can claim his true legacy.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
HEALY AT MANUFACTURING CONFERENCE
TUC Congress 2026 / 10 September 2026
10 September 2026

DOUG NICHOLLS welcomes a turning point at this year’s Congress, where many motions call for a co-ordinated plan to revive British industry, a perspective outlined in his new book

Bonds markets City of London
Opinion / 8 September 2026
8 September 2026

DOUG NICHOLLS says the parasitic finance markets must be challenged or another British government could be toppled

A view of the skyline in Manchester City Centre
Politics / 13 July 2026
13 July 2026

Can Andy Burnham’s programme deliver a productive economy – or merely a softer version of capitalism, asks VINCE MILLS

The fate of The Times newspaper was revealed at a press conference in Portman Hotel, London. (L-R) Harold Evans, Sunday Times Editor; New owner and Australian press magnate Rupert Murdoch and William Rees-Mogg, The Times Editor
Media / 24 January 2026
24 January 2026

Four decades on, the Wapping dispute stands as both a heroic act of resistance and a decisive moment in the long campaign to break trade union power. Lord JOHN HENDY KC looks back on the events of 1986