The IEA Book Club will be hosting an upcoming event with Sir Tim Lankester on his latest book, “Inside Thatcher’s Monetarism Experiment: The Promise, the Failure, the Legacy”. This event will take place on Wednesday 23rd October from 17:30 – 19:30 at the IEA Westminster offices. Chairing this event is Tom Clougherty (Executive Director and Ralph Harris Fellow).

Join us for an insightful event featuring Sir Tim Lankester and his new book, Inside Thatcher’s Monetarism Experiment: The Promise, the Failure, the Legacy.

In this captivating account, Sir Tim Lankester, who served as a senior official at the Treasury and Downing Street, offers a unique behind-the-scenes perspective on one of the most controversial economic experiments in modern British history. In 1979, Margaret Thatcher’s new government was faced with rampant double-digit inflation, rising unemployment and flatlining economic growth. In response, Thatcher pursued an economic policy which rejected the old orthodoxies and was promoted by only a minority of economists: a policy based on the doctrine of monetarism.

His insider’s account discusses her attitudes and decisions and those of the other main players in this controversial experiment in economic policy making, which promised much but arguably failed to deliver.

Offering fascinating insights into one of the most unsuccessful episodes of British economic history, he also examines the legacy of monetarism for the economy today.

Sir Tim Lankester, KCB, was Margaret Thatcher’s first private secretary for economic affairs. He was subsequently Britain’s representative on the boards of the IMF and the World Bank; Permanent Secretary at the former Overseas Development Administration; Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; and President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.