Editing Nigel Lawson (section)

=== Early political career ===
In 1963, Lawson was recruited by [[Conservative Central Office]] to assist with [[speech-writing]] for prime ministers [[Harold Macmillan]] and [[Alec Douglas-Home]] in the lead-up to the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]].<ref name=guardianobit />

After returning to journalism as editor of ''[[The Spectator]]'' from 1966 to 1970, Lawson was selected as the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] candidate for the [[Eton and Slough]] constituency in 1968.<ref name=guardianobit /> He contested the seat unsuccessfully at the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], before becoming [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[Blaby (UK Parliament constituency)|Blaby]] in Leicestershire in [[February 1974 United Kingdom general election|February 1974]], holding the seat until he retired at the [[1992 United Kingdom general election|1992 general election]].<ref name=ParlProf>{{cite web |url=http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/nigel-lawson/27077 |title=Lord Lawson of Blaby |access-date=6 February 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326064114/http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/nigel-lawson/27077 |archive-date=26 March 2012  }}</ref>

In 1977, while an [[opposition whip]], Lawson co-ordinated tactics with rebellious government [[backbencher]]s [[Jeff Rooker]] and [[Audrey Wise]] to secure legislation providing for the automatic [[indexation]] of [[tax threshold]]s to prevent the [[tax burden]] being increased by inflation (typically in excess of 10% per annum during that parliament).<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lowther |first1=Ed |title=Budget rebellions remain scarce |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/bbc_parliament/7363665.stm |access-date=4 April 2023 |work=BBC News |date=24 April 2008}}</ref><ref name=guardianobit />