Image: Nigel Lawson with Margaret Thatcher at the 1989 Conservative Party Conference "As it was, it was merely an embarrassment," he said. In his 1992 memoir, written just after he stepped down as an MP, Mr Lawson admitted the 1987 manifesto was not properly thought through and if it had not been for the economic growth, the manifesto would have been a disaster. However, that led to a rise in inflation to 8% in 1988 and interest rates doubled to 15% within 18 months, with critics accusing Mr Lawson of unleashing an inflationary spiral due to his policies. The Lawson Boom saw the UK economy on the up after 1986, with unemployment halved. He even had a period of economic growth named after him. One of his major triumphs was the Big Bang of 1986, which saw the City's financial markets deregulated and London strengthened as a financial capital - but in 2010, he admitted the "unintended consequence" of that was the 2007 financial crisis. He also removed other higher rates so nobody paid above 40% in personal tax.
Mr Lawson managed to honour his promise to bring taxation rates down, with the basic rate going from 30% to 25%, and the top tax rate from 60% to 40%.
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