Lord Borrie

Lord Borrie, who has died aged 85, was an academic lawyer who, despite his Leftish leanings, created a powerful impetus for the free market over 16 years as director-general of Fair Trading. Surviving Margaret Thatcher’s cull of Labour’s appointees, Gordon Borrie championed the consumer throughout her administration and beyond. He reported to 13 secretaries of state from Shirley Williams to Michael Heseltine; three reappointed him.

Borrie investigated whether 10,000 trade agreements were in the public interest, and advised on 3,000 takeovers. He threatened firms found rigging the market with prosecution (including nationalised British Steel, British Gas and the electricity boards), stopped Barclays bullying traders into accepting its debit card, and frustrated attempts by Raleigh and Black & Decker to keep their products out of cut-price stores. Borrie transformed the way Britain did business. He campaigned against confusing jargon and cowboy traders.

He ended the opticians’ monopoly in supplying spectacles, upset the Law Society by calling for solicitors to advertise their charges, and banned convicted fraudsters from working as estate agents.

By acting against the London Stock Exchange’s division between jobbers and brokers, he triggered the “Big Bang”, which would transform the City from the staid preserve of family firms to a centre of global finance. Born March 13 1931, died September 30 2016