Editing Nigel Lawson (section)

==== Secretary of State for Energy ====
In the [[Cabinet reshuffle]] of September 1981, Lawson was promoted to the position of [[Secretary of State for Energy]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-07 |title=Rishi Sunak's Cabinet reshuffle: Key statistics |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/government-lucy-frazer-cabinet-rishi-sunak-harold-wilson-b2277363.html |access-date=2023-04-10 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> In this role his most significant action was to prepare for what he saw as an inevitable full-scale strike in the [[Coal mining in the United Kingdom|coal industry]] (then [[state-owned]] since [[nationalisation]] by the post-war [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] government of [[Clement Attlee]]) over the closure of deep coal mines whose uneconomic operation accounted for the coal industry's business losses and consequent requirement for [[state subsidy]].<ref>{{Cite news|date=1983-03-28|title=1983: Macgregor named as coal boss|language=en-GB|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/28/newsid_2531000/2531033.stm|access-date=2023-04-09}}</ref> He was a key proponent of the Thatcher government's [[privatisation]] policy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Elliott |first=Larry |date=2023-04-04 |title=How Nigel Lawson turned postwar economic consensus on its head |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/apr/04/how-1980s-chancellor-turned-postwar-economic-consensus-on-its-head |access-date=2023-04-10 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=2023-04-04 |title=Nigel Lawson was the economic brain of Thatcherism |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/britain/2023/04/04/nigel-lawson-was-the-economic-brain-of-thatcherism |access-date=2023-04-10 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref> During his tenure at the [[Department of Energy (United Kingdom)|Department of Energy]] he set the course for the later privatisations of the gas and electricity industries and on his return to the Treasury he worked closely with the [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]] in privatising [[British Airways]], [[British Telecom]], and [[British Gas]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-04-03 |title=Nigel Lawson, chancellor and journalist, 1932–2023 |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/b4f4cd59-97b1-4bca-8ea4-b11f0256db65 |access-date=2023-04-10}}</ref>