Brexit was bad, but Boris Johnson’s glib lawbreaking is much worse
The prime minister has fallen out with his chancellor? Happy Easter and please tell me something new. Indeed, tension between Nos 10 and 11 Downing Street is almost par for the course. Margaret Thatcher did not get on with Geoffrey Howe – her chancellor from 1979 to 1983 – and after he was moved on to other departments they eventually fell out completely over Europe, about which Thatcher thought Howe far too enthusiastic.
The tension between Tony Blair and his chancellor, Gordon Brown, between 1997 and 2007 was principally about Brown’s desire to take over the reins, but also about – here we go again – Europe. In that case, the argument was about whether or not to join the euro.
But until now, the really great falling out between Nos 10 and 11 was that between Thatcher and Nigel Lawson (1983 to 1989) over – what else? – Europe.
Now, before we go further, I feel it is my duty to remind my Brexiter readers (they do exist) that while Thatcher had her concerns about sovereignty, possibly her greatest achievement on the economic front was her part in the formation of, and our participation in, the European single market, officially formed in 1987.
The big struggle between Thatcher and Lawson was partly over whether we should join the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM), the precursor to the single currency. But it was also over what Thatcher believed was Lawson’s subterfuge in conducting policy to align the movements of the pound to those of West Germany’s currency, the deutsche mark.
Lawson (now a Brexiter) admired the way the Germans controlled inflation, and wanted to bask in their monetary shadow. He also thought successfully “shadowing” the mark would break Thatcher’s opposition to joining the ERM.
Lawson appears to be one
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