First Previous 1 OF 8 NextLast

Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby ('Fighting Inflation')

1 of 8 portraits of Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby

© National Portrait Gallery, London

 Like voting
is closed

Thanks for Liking

Please Like other favourites!
If they inspire you please support our work.

Buy a print Buy a greetings card Make a donation

Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby ('Fighting Inflation')

by Gerald Scarfe
pen and Indian ink, 1986
23 3/8 in. x 33 in. (594 mm x 838 mm)
Purchased, 1988
Primary Collection
NPG 6009

Sitterback to top

Artistback to top

  • Gerald Scarfe (1936-), Cartoonist. Artist or producer of 13 portraits, Sitter in 9 portraits.

This portraitback to top

Published in The Sunday Times on 18 October 1986.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Gibson, Robin; Clerk, Honor, 20th Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery Collection, 1993, p. 28 Read entry

    A Conservative MP for Blaby in Leicestershire from 1974, Nigel Lawson succeeded Geoffrey Howe as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1983 and became the main architect of the Thatcher administration's monetarist policies. Fighting Inflation appeared in the Sunday Times on 18 October 1986, three days after the Chancellor's Mansion House speech had failed to allay fears of rising inflation. Lawson resigned from the Treasury in 1989 and was made a life peer in 1992.

    Gerald Scarfe became known in the 1960s as one of Britain's most savage caricaturists. His work has appeared in Punch, Private Eye, the Daily Mail and Time Magazine as well as the Sunday Times. In recent years he has also made various films for the BBC and in 1985 designed the sets for Orpheus in the Underworld at the English National Opera. His caricatures of Margaret Thatcher and of Denis Healey are also in the National Portrait Gallery collection.

  • Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 369

Subjects & Themesback to top

Events of 1986back to top

Current affairs

Hampton Court Palace is devastated by fire. Much of the third floor and the roof of the building were destroyed, although, thanks to the courage of the fire fighters, only one painting and one piece of furniture were ruined.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.

Art and science

Poems on the Underground, the brainchild of American writer Judith Chernaik, is launched by London Underground. A rolling programme of poems is displayed in tube train carriages, bringing contemporary and classic poetry to commuters.
The Independent Newspaper is first published.
Artists, Gilbert and George win the Turner Prize.

International

An explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station leads to nuclear meltdown in the reactor and causes massive nuclear contamination over Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, western Europe, the UK and Ireland, and even North America. The 2005 Chenobyl Forum attributed 56 direct deaths to the disaster and estimated that 9,000 people may die from some form of cancer as a result of exposure to radiation.

Comments back to top

We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.

If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.