Michael Heseltine

Heseltine built the Haymarket publishing group from property deals and trade magazines in the 1950s and 1960s, which made him rich and convinced him that government should actively help industry. As Environment Secretary after the 1981 riots he spent weeks in Liverpool and set up urban development corporations, including the London Docklands, and later championed regional growth and industrial strategy. His businessman's confidence in intervention was out of step with Thatcher and helped bring about his Westland resignation.