ABSTRACT
The coverage of economics in the U.K. was transformed in the 1970s as the country faced its biggest economic crisis since the Second World War. A new breed of economic correspondents emerged who aimed at challenging the fundamentals of economic policy, rather than simply reporting macroeconomic numbers such as GDP and inflation. Led by Peter Jay, the economic editor of the Times, and Samuel Brittan, economic commentator at the Financial Times, they drew on the theory of monetarism advocated by the U.S. economist Milton Friedman to challenge the prevailing Keynesian assumptions about the need for government intervention to promote economic growth. Working closely with newly established right-wing think tanks, they exerted a powerful influence on both Labour and Conservative economic policies, paving the way for the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. In the process they became very prominent figures, often rivaling political correspondents in their influence and prestige, and put economic coverage at the center of the business pages in the major national newspapers. Often entering journalism after a spell in government, they scorned the limited nature of much previous U.K. business coverage, which focused on the narrow interests of City investors, and instead aimed at influencing political and economic elites. Peter Jay famously said that he was writing for an audience of three: the editor of his newspaper, the governor of the Bank of England, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. During the 1976 economic crisis, when the U.K. was forced to go cap-in-hand to the IMF and to cut government spending, economic commentators excoriated the Labour Chancellor, Dennis Healey, fueled by leaks from the Treasury. Despite changes in party control, the neo-liberal consensus established in the 1980s remained the dominant approach to economic policy in Britain, not only under Thatcher, but also under Tony Blair’s “New Labour” government (1997–2010) and the austerity policies advocated by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition (2010–2015) and the subsequent Conservative government (2015–present).
