John Hoskyns

Sir John Leigh Austin Hungerford Hoskyns (23 August 1927 – 20 October 2014) was best known as a Policy Advisor to Margaret Thatcher while head of the Prime Minister's Policy Unit from May 1979 to April 1982. Before this, he acted as a policy adviser to her and the Shadow Cabinet from 1975 to 1979, during which time he produced, together with Norman Strauss, a business executive from Unilever, the important "Stepping Stones" report of November 1977.

Early life Hoskyns was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, the son of an army officer, Chandos Hoskyns.

The other grandfather, Austin Taylor (1858–1955), was a Conservative, later Liberal, politician, who in 1906 changed his party allegiance from Conservative to Liberal over the issue of free trade, alongside Winston Churchill.

Hoskyns's father was killed during the Siege of Calais in 1940, when Hoskyns was aged twelve. He was educated at Winchester College, Hampshire, a leading independent boarding school. In 1945, aged seventeen, he was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade, serving until 1957 and rising to the rank of Captain.

Hoskyns and Strauss claimed that trade union power increases unemployment, raising wages above market-clearing levels, which will eventually cause wages to be unsustainably and inefficiently high. This encourages politicians to run budget deficits and print money; this causes inflation, which makes unions more militant, as their members suffer under increased inflation, and also, workers will be more inclined to join unions for protection from the rising inflation. Thus, trade union power increases as the unions gain members. The report states: 'The one precondition for success will be a complete change in the role of the trade unions movement'.

After Downing Street In March 1982, Hoskyns resigned from the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS), frustrated by the slow pace of change, including the refusal to appoint certain people to the CPRS, because it was a non-political body. In 2000, he published a memoir, Just in Time: Inside the Thatcher Revolution.

Personal life In 1956 Hoskyns married Miranda Mott, and they had two sons and a daughter.

30-year rule and official documents At the end of 2011, the release of confidential documents under the UK Government's 30-year rule revealed Hoskyns' thoughts regarding the Liverpool Riots. He saw little point in spending more money on Liverpool, saying "this money is likely to be money wasted".