Edward Heath’s government oversaw the 1972 “Barber boom” that preceded the 1973–74 stock-market crash.
The boom was named after Anthony Barber, Chancellor of the Exchequer under Prime Minister Edward Heath. Expansionary fiscal and monetary policies helped drive rapid economic growth and a surge in asset prices during 1972. The market then reversed as inflation accelerated, interest rates rose, and economic conditions deteriorated.
The 1973 oil crisis intensified the downturn. After the Yom Kippur War, Arab members of OPEC imposed an oil embargo on countries they viewed as supporting Israel, while oil prices rose sharply. The shock contributed to inflation, recession, and falling corporate profits across many economies.
Britain’s stock market suffered a prolonged decline, and the wider crash affected markets internationally. The episode is sometimes described simply as an oil-crisis crash, but monetary tightening, inflation, economic slowdown, and the earlier asset boom all mattered. Heath was prime minister from 1970 until 1974.