My friend Craig Pickering, who has died aged 72 of heart failure, spent much of his working life in the Treasury, applying the tactics of a devoted chess player to the conundrum of improving the long-term efficacy of the British economy. He was kind, funny and far-sighted, and although smarter than everyone else around, he never flaunted the fact. Born in South Shields, he was the son of Raymond Pickering, a merchant navy river pilot on the Tyne, and Beryl (nee Young), who looked after the home. From Robert Richardson grammar school in Ryhope, Sunderland, Craig went to the London School of Economics and gained a BSc in governance and a doctorate in politics. Yet he always remained fiercely proud of his Geordie heritage and even 17 years in HM Treasury failed to take Tyneside out of the man. He supported Sunderland AFC throughout his life – much to his regret through thin and thin – but was cheered by the success of South Shields FC in the last decade and recently became a fan shareholder in the club. Craig joined the civil service fast-track programme on graduation. He left Whitehall to teach at the London Business School for two years and then returned to the Treasury in 1985. He was seconded to Brussels as a member of the UK team at the European Commission (1987-89), and was a representative on the board of the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (1991-93). He then headed the industry division for five years, and in 1998 produced two significant reports helping provide building blocks for the growth of the technology industries in the new century. His next job was with Equity Education, a company he subsequently chaired, and later he was a consultant for the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation, for the company Whitehall Advisers and for the Finance and Leasing Association. In 2011 he published Death and Taxes, revealing how successive governments had put tax revenues from the sale of tobacco above the interests of public health. He worked pro bono for Action on Smoking and Health and the charity Families Need Fathers, of which he was chief executive (2010-11). Craig was a literate man with a great cultural curiosity. He loved trains and kept rabbits. He spoke French and German and had lately been learning Italian and ancient Greek. His first work of fiction, A Very European Murder (2015), was followed by two further detective novels set in the European Union. He lived round the corner in Chiswick, west London, from the Greek grocery Adamou’s, where he was among the few customers privileged to take coffee and discuss affairs of state among the tomatoes and basil plants in the “office” at the back. After the store closed down, the coffee and conversation moved to a nearby cafe. Craig and I became friends through work and were both delighted by the marriage of his son, Alastair, to my daughter, Georgia. Craig is survived by his second wife, Sue (nee Hanson), who was a solicitor at the Department of Health, and whom he married in 1990. Their daughter, Hannah, died in 2011, after which they both retired. As well as Sue, three sons survive him – Elliot and twins, Alastair and Matthew, from his first marriage, to Gillian Radusin, which ended in divorce, and five grandchildren, Cassandra, Lilly, Flora, Arthur and Skye.