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Lord David Young, British-Jewish politician and favorite fixer for Margaret Thatcher, dies at 90
(JTA) — Lord David Young, a British-Jewish member of the House of Lords who advised Conservative governments in the United Kingdom from Margaret Thatcher to David Cameron died on Thursday at the age of 90.
Young also worked as a businessman and ran Jewish charities before and after becoming a favorite fixer for Thatcher in government.
Thatcher, who appointed Young to his first political post, as an advisor in charge of privatization, has famously been quoted saying of him: “Other people bring me problems. David brings me solutions.”
According to Tom Gross, a British journalist and international affairs expert, during his many years in politics, Young also used his position to advance the needs of British Jewry and push for stronger British-Israeli relations.
“David Young did a tremendous amount not just for Britain, but for British Jews and was a significant influence on both Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and David Cameron in forming their more favorable impressions of Israel,” Gross told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The grandson of Jewish immigrants from the Russian empire, Young was born in 1932 and grew up in North London’s working class Jewish community. His father Joseph was a flour importer who eventually went into the garment industry.
Young was educated in public schools but dropped out early to become clerk and ultimately a solicitor. Still, he quickly followed his father into the business realm, only practicing law for one year.
In the 1960s he established a group of companies that dealt in everything from industrial real estate to construction. As a successful businessman, he was also heavily involved in Jewish philanthropy.
“Lord Young was always proud of his Jewish heritage, and widely regarded for many years as the leader of the Jewish lay community,” Lord Leigh of Hurley, a longtime senior treasurer of the British Conservative party, told the Telegraph.
By the mid-1970s, he was the chairman of the British arm of ORT, a Jewish charity which promotes education and vocational training around the world. Young was also at various points the president of the Chai Cancer Care organization and the chairman of the Jewish museum of London.
It was his work with ORT, alongside his business career, that put him into the eyes of Thatcher’s government, who appointed him as an advisor in her efforts to further privatize the British economy.
“David Young did not claim to understand politics, but he understood how to make things happen,” Thatcher once said.
By 1981, he was moved from privatization to the organization of the British workforce under the manpower services committee, and by 1984 became a minister without a portfolio, floating from topic to topic to assist the Thatcher cabinet.
According to the Guardian, Thatcher had considered him for the role of chief of staff but ultimately decided he could better serve her with more freedom.
In 1984, Young was also made a “life peer” of the British parliament, styled Baron Young of Graffham, a village an hour south of London where he owned a home. The title gave him a permanent seat in the House of Lords.
After the end of Thatcher’s premiership in 1990, Young took a break from politics and returned to the business realm where he led Cable & Wireless, the first business to seriously challenge British Telecom — today BT Group — as a provider of telephone services.
Young ultimately returned to politics in 2010, after the election of Conservative leader David Cameron. Cameron first appointed Young an advisor on health and safety and later gave him the role of enterprise advisor, tasking him to examine the government’s relationship with small businesses.
Though he long worked for the Conservative party, in his later years, he had no qualms about criticizing their politicians.
According to the Guardian, he called Boris Johnson “very clever, very able but very lazy” and the antithesis of Thatcher. He also said that Cameron lacked “seichel” — a Hebrew word for intelligence — due to his handling of Brexit.
He is survived by his wife, lita and daughter Karen and Judith.
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The Forward publishes exclusive interview with Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil
New York — April 7, 2026 — Today, the Forward, the nation’s leading Jewish news organization, published an exclusive, in-depth interview with Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University protest leader whose arrest during last year’s campus demonstrations thrust him into the national spotlight.
In a candid and wide-ranging conversation with Arno Rosenfeld, an enterprise reporter and author of the Forward’s Antisemitism Decoded newsletter, Khalil critiqued Hamas and said it had come to power through collaboration with Israel, explained his “nuanced” view of Zionism and detailed his vision for a “free Palestine” that includes the Jewish citizens of Israel.
“I was glad to have the opportunity to drill down on specifics that have been widely speculated upon but not addressed in Khalil’s previous interviews,” said Rosenfeld. “He wanted to speak directly to a major Jewish audience.”
The interview offers rare insight into one of the most scrutinized figures to emerge from the campus protest movement, drawing on original reporting, Khalil’s past public statements, and interviews with current and former Columbia students.
The post The Forward publishes exclusive interview with Columbia protest leader Mahmoud Khalil appeared first on The Forward.
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US Hits Military Targets on Iran’s Kharg Island, Vance Says No Change to Strategy
US Vice President JD Vance delivers remarks at the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, US, June 20, 2025. Phone: REUTERS/Daniel Cole
US strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island do not represent a change in American strategy, US Vice President JD Vance said on Tuesday as a US official separately told Reuters the additional strikes on military targets did not impact oil infrastructure.
The official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, described at least some of the strikes as targeting sites that had been previously struck before and said the attack occurred in the early morning hours of Tuesday.
Vance, speaking separately in Budapest, said the strikes were not a change in US strategy, with the Trump administration confident that it can get a response from Iran by 8 pm (0001 Wednesday GMT) in negotiations to end the conflict. US President Donald Trump is demanding Iran forswear nuclear weapons and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil transit waterway.
“We were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island, and I believe we have done so,” Vance said.
“We’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal,” he added. “I don’t think the news in Kharg Island … represents a change in strategy, or represents any change from the President of the United States.”
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French Nationals Leave Iran After Three and a Half Years Amid Softer France Tone on War
A woman walks past posters with the portraits of Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris, two French citizens held in Iran, on the day of support rallies to mark their three-year detention and to demand their release, in front of the National Assembly in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. The slogan reads “Freedom for Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris.” Photo: REUTERS/Abdul Saboor
Two French nationals were heading home on Tuesday after Iran allowed them to leave the country following three and a half years in detention, a surprise move that came as Paris sought to distance itself from the war in the region.
Cecile Kohler and Jacques Paris had been confined to France‘s embassy in Tehran since November, after being held since 2022 in the notorious Evin prison on spying charges that France has said were unfounded.
“This is a relief for all of us and obviously for their families,” President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X. “Thank you to the Omani authorities for their mediation efforts.”
Neither the French presidency nor the foreign ministry responded to requests for comment on what had been agreed between the two sides to ensure their release.
Iran‘s official news agency IRNA said the couple were freed following an understanding under which France would in turn release Mahdieh Esfandiari, an Iranian student living in the French city of Lyon, and withdraw a complaint against Iran at the International Court of Justice.
However, both assertions were unclear. Esfandiari, who was convicted at the end of February for glorifying terrorism in social media posts, was released after serving almost a year in prison but has appealed the conviction.
It was not clear whether she had left the country, as ordered by the February ruling. France dropped the ICJ complaint last September.
Iran‘s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi spoke with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Sunday, confirming the pair’s imminent release.
Macron has criticized US President Donald Trump’s approach to the US-Israeli war on Iran and said France would only help restore freedom of navigation to the Strait of Hormuz once there is a ceasefire and after consultations with Tehran.
France last week refused Israel permission to transfer weapons through French airspace for the war and has led efforts to water down a draft UN Security Council resolution that could have opened the door to forceful action in the strait.
A French official briefing reporters after the release denied that France had a softer position towards Iran and said Paris had warned the Iranians about the safety of their citizens given the escalation in the war.
“I think the Iranians rightly considered that if anything happened to our compatriots, the reactions here would have been extremely catastrophic,” the official said, declining to comment on the details of the negotiation.
French officials have also refused to comment on why a container ship belonging to French shipping group CMA CGM was able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a sign that Iran may not consider France to be a hostile nation.