Margaret Thatcher were officially denied by William Heseltine, the Private Secretary to the Sovereign. Thatcher later wrote: "I always found the Queen's attitude towards the work of the Government absolutely correct ... stories of clashes between 'two powerful women' were just too good not to make up." Thatcher's economic policy was influenced by monetarist thinking and economists such as Milton Friedman and Alan Walters. Together with Chancellor of the Exchequer Geoffrey Howe, she lowered direct taxes on income and increased indirect taxes. She increased interest rates to slow the growth of the money supply and thereby lower inflation, introduced cash limits on
John Smith (Chancellor of the Exchequer) he was a Commissioner for the Union with Scotland, and was the last Speaker of the House of Commons of England and after the Acts of Union 1707, became the first Speaker of the new House of Commons of Great Britain. At the 1708 general election Smith was returned unopposed as MP for Andover, and subsequently gave up his position as Speaker, when he was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer again on 22 April 1708. He ceased to be Chancellor on the 11 August 1710 on the dissolution of Parliament and was returned unopposed for Andover at the 1710 general