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Nigel Lawson, architect of Margaret Thatcher’s economic policy, dies

Nigel Lawson, architect of Margaret Thatcher's economic policy, dies

4 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

Nigel Lawson, a former Conservative UK minister and considered the architect of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s economic policy, has died at the age of 91, without specifying the cause of death.

The ‘Daily Telegraph’ newspaper, where Lawson contributed until last year, reported his death on Monday. The British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has mourned the death of the politician, with whom he shared the post of Finance Minister, and has paid a heartfelt tribute to him on his social networks.

“One of the first things I did as a minister was hang a photograph of Nigel Lawson on my table. He was a transforming minister and an inspiration to me and many others,” the president wrote on his social networks.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also lamented his death in a message on his Twitter account: “He was a prophet of Brexit and a lover of continental Europe. He was a giant.”

A CAREER MARKED BY FINANCIAL REFORMS

Born in 1932 in London to a wealthy family, Lawson served as a member of the British Parliament for the Conservative Party from 1974 to 1992, and held various posts in the Thatcher government, most notably as Chancellor of the Exchequer.

He was Secretary of State for Energy from 1981, in a tense atmosphere that would be the breeding ground for what became the great coal miners’ strike in the United Kingdom that began in 1984. During his tenure, he expanded the reserves of coal from the country so that it was able to hold out and finally win the contest against the miners.

For his economic reforms, including the idea of ​​privatizing state-owned companies in deficit and cutting taxes, he is known as the architect of the economic boom –known as the ‘Lawson boom’ in the country– of the 80s in the United Kingdom, as well as the subsequent crisis and recession in the following decade in the country.

He resigned from his position in 1989 after numerous disagreements with the prime minister on European matters, and became one of the main defenders of Brexit, even being president of the ‘Vota Salir’ campaign in 2016.

In his later years, he faced controversy for using his relevance to express doubts about human responsibility for climate change, calling it a natural phenomenon independent of industries.

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