Nigel Lawson, a Conservative who helped turn around Britain’s economy under Margaret Thatcher but who quit the government in a bitter dispute over monetary policy, has died. He was 91.

As chancellor of the exchequer, Lawson was closely associated with Thatcher’s hallmark drive for deregulation and the privatisation of huge state enterprises and utilities, including British Airways.

After his government service, Lawson went on to become a high-profile sceptic on global warming and was largely eclipsed in the public eye by his daughter, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

His tax-cutting stewardship of the economy helped turn a budget deficit into a surplus, halved unemployment and curbed inflation. But the so-called Lawson Boom was followed by harder times, with soaring inflation and high interest rates. Lawson spoke approvingly of his daughter’s growing celebrity.

“The fact that when she was young she was known as Nigel Lawson’s daughter, and now I am known as Nigella Lawson’s father, pleases me immensely,” he said 2009.

“That’s how generations should pass.”

New York Times News Service