Dominic Lawson
The Honourable Dominic Ralph Campden Lawson (born
December 17 1956) is a
British journalist, the son of former
Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Lawson and brother of TV chef and writer
Nigella Lawson.
Educated at
Westminster School and then
Christ Church,
Oxford, Lawson joined the
BBC as a researcher, and then wrote for the
Financial Times. From
1990 until
1995 he served as the editor of
The Spectator magazine, a post his father had served in from
1966 to
1970.
In his capacity as editor of the
Spectator he conducted, in June 1990, an infamous interview with the cabinet minister
Nicholas Ridley in which Ridley expressed opinions immensely hostile to Germany and the European Community, likening the initiatives of Jacques Delors and others to those of Hitler. Lawson added to the damage caused by claiming that the opinions expressed by Ridley were shared by the prime minister,
Margaret Thatcher. Ridley was forced to resign from the cabinet shortly after.
From
1995 Lawson was editor of
The Sunday Telegraph until
2005, when he was dismissed and replaced by
Sarah Sands. He is currently an Editorial and Opinion writer for
The Independent.
Lawson has several times been accused of working with
MI6 (eg by
Richard Tomlinson), but has denied being an agent (see
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,428597,00.html).
Lawson is married to the
The Honourable Rosamond Mary Monckton, daughter of the
2nd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley. The Lawsons have 2 daughters (another daughter died some years ago), Domenica and Savannah; Domenica has
Down's syndrome.
*
Snake Oil and Other Preoccupations â€"
John Diamond,
Richard Dawkins (Foreword), Dominic Lawson (Editor), Vintage, 2001, ISBN 0099428334
*
The Independent article on Lawson's leaving The Sunday Telegraph*
The Guardian article on Lawson's dismissal
