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Lord Young, favourite of Thatcher and communal leader, dies, aged 90
The businessman was a key confidant of Margaret Thatcher, serving in two cabinet roles
December 11, 2022 11:22
The businessman was a key confidant of Margaret Thatcher, serving in two cabinet roles
December 11, 2022 11:22Lord Young of Graffham, who served in Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet as Employment Secretary and Trade and Industry Secretary has died, aged 90.
Initially a solicitor, David Young went on to forge a successful business career, firstly working for Sir Isaac Wolfson at Great Universal Stores, the retail and mail order giant, where as Sir Isaac’s assistant, he began “buying a medium sized firm a week”.
Branching out on his own, he later became chair of the Manpower Services Commission and was appointed to the Lords in 1984.
His involvement in Jewish communal charities — in particular British Ort, which he chaired — also brought him to the attention of leading Tories.
Margaret Thatcher had addressed an Ort dinner and Young had escorted a number of politicians, including Norman Tebbit, to see the educational charity’s work in Paris. He became close to Sir Keith Joseph, the Jewish MP who was Trade and Industry Secretary in the 1979 Conservative government.
A Thatcher favourite, Lord Young was made Employment Secretary in 1985, only joining the Tory Party when attending his first cabinet meeting. Appointed Trade and Industry Secretary after the 1987 election, he never took a salary for his cabinet roles.
Margaret Thatcher once said of him: “Others bring me problems. David brings me solutions.”
Interviewed by the JC last year, Lord Young described her as the antithesis of Boris Johnson.
“She would work on her boxes until three or four in the morning. She was always tired during the day... The strain is immense, and you could see that her nerves got frayed very easily.”
After resigning from cabinet, he chaired Cable & Wireless and served as an enterprise adviser to David Cameron when he was prime minister, quitting after widespread condemnation of his claim that voters had never had it so good during the "so-called recession".
Mr Cameron was among those paying tribute, saying: “In public service for over 40 years and a true champion of business and enterprise throughout, from Thatcher’s government to my own, he was a thoughtful, kind and lovely man and will be deeply missed.”
Another tribute was from Chai Cancer Care, of which he was president, acknowledging that the peer’s “wise counsel, great experience and compassion” had been pivotal to the charity’s development. He was also Jewish Care’s first president.