Ian MacGregor
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Sir Ian MacGregor, KBE (September 21, 1912 at Kinlochleven, Scotland, UK - April 13, 1998 at Taunton, Somerset, England) was a U.S.-based industrialist.
He was brought to British Industry by the Labour Party, drafted into the Board of British Leyland and susbequently appointed Chairman of British Steel in 1979; another Labour instigated move. His next role was head of the National Coal Board in the early 1980's, appointed by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. MacGregor had emigrated to the USA in the 1940's and gained a reputation for shrewd, no-nonsense negotiation in various strands of American business. His tenure at British Steel caused much controversy when he cut thousands of jobs but made the newly-streamlined industry more viable as a result.
His appointment, therefore, as chairman of the NCB in 1983 was greeted with considerable disdain by the National Union of Mineworkers, in particular its president Arthur Scargill. Scargill was concerned at MacGregor's uncompromising business methods, branding MacGregor the "butcher of the coal industry".
McGregor's approach to turning British Coal into a profitable concern was similar to the line he had taken at British Steel - cut jobs and close unprofitable pits. This led to the protracted and increasingly bitter 1984-1985 miner's strike. Despite many meetings between the two opposing sides no agreement was ever reached, and the UK coal industry continued its decline when the strike finished. Only 15 deep mines remained at the time of privatisation in 1994, against the 170 collieries operational in 1984.
MacGregor was knighted in 1986. Although he left public affairs after his retirement, his opinions on the Government's handling of the dispute, expressed in his autobiography, were not well received by Mrs Thatcher.
Sir Ian MacGregor died of a heart attack in 1998.
