Anthony Barber
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Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber, PC (born 4 July 1920), is a Conservative member of the House of Lords. He was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer by Edward Heath in 1970.
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Barber's father was secretary-director of a Doncaster works. He served in France during World War II with a Doncaster Territorial unit and was at Dunkirk. Later he became a RAF pilot and was captured by the Germans. He was mentioned in dispatches for helping escapes from the prison camp. While still a prisoner, he took a law degree with first-class honours through the International Red Cross. On his return to England, he was awarded a state grant to Oxford University and a scholarship to the Inner Temple. He then practised as a barrister.
Tony Barber stood in Doncaster at the 1950 election but lost by 878 votes. At the 1951 election, however, Barber beat the incumbent Labour Member of Parliament by 384 votes. He became Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1970 following the sudden death of Iain Macleod. In line with the, initial, liberal, instincts of Edward Heath's 1970 government, he oversaw a major liberalisation of the banking system, leading to a very high level of lending, much of it to speculative property concerns.
High levels of economic growth followed but the traditional capacity contraints of the British economy - especially currency and defecit of trade concerns - quickly choked the boom and the banking system surged towards crisis as the bubble burst. The inflation of capital asset values was also followed by the 1973 oil crisis which followed the Yom Kippur War, adding to inflationary pressures in the economy and feeding industrial militancy (already at a high as a result of the struggle over the Industrial Relations Act).
During his term the economy suffered due to stagflation and industrial unrest. In 1972 he delivered a Budget which was designed to return the Conservative Party to power in an election expected in 1974 or 1975.
This inflationary Budget led to a period known as "The Barber Boom". The measures in the Budget were to come back to haunt the Government who were hit by high inflation and wage demands from Public Sector workers.
In late 1973 Arthur Scargill a high ranking Union official led the Coal Miners out on strike. This strike crippled the country and led Prime Minister Edward Heath to declare a state of emergency (the first since the end of World War II) and a three day week in the use of electricity.
In January 1974 Heath had had enough and called a General Election for February 28th 1974 asking "Who Rules"? The public decided it was not Heath and returned a minority Labour Government and Harold Wilson as Prime Minister.
Anthony Barber was made a Life Peer in 1974 and served as Chairman of Standard Chartered Bank from that year until 1987.
| Preceded by: Enoch Powell | Minister of Health 1963–1964 | Succeeded by: Kenneth Robinson |
| Preceded by: George Thompson | Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1970 | Succeeded by: Geoffrey Rippon |
| Preceded by: Iain Macleod | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1970–1974 | Succeeded by: Denis Healey |