Rupert Harrison CBE (born 1 November 1978)[1] is a British economist and a portfolio manager at BlackRock. He was from 2006 to 2015 the chief of staff to George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, and chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the UK Treasury.[2] He is currently a member of the Economic Advisory Council convened by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt.[3] In June 2023, he was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for the Bicester and Woodstock (UK Parliament constituency) at the next General Election.[4]

Early life and education

Born in São Paulo, Harrison is the youngest son of a bank manager and a French teacher. He won a scholarship[5] to Eton College (where he was head boy).[1]

He then went to Magdalen College, Oxford University where he initially studied Physics, but then switched to a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, achieving first-class honours.[6] One of his tutors at Oxford was Stewart Wood, who went on to become an adviser to both Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, and the two apparently remained friends.[7]

In 2007 he obtained a PhD degree in Economics from University College London entitled, Innovation and technology adoption and his academic research was published in the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal and the Review of Economics and Statistics amongst others.[8][9][10]

Career

From 2002, Harrison worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies as Senior Research Economist.

From 2006-2010 he was chief economic advisor to the then Leader of the Opposition David Cameron and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. From 2010 to 2015 he was chief of staff to UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and chair of the UK’s Council of Economic Advisors.[11]

In August 2015 Harrison joined the investment firm BlackRock where he is a portfolio manager and chief macro strategist for multi-asset strategies.[12][13][14]

Harrison has written opinion pieces for the Financial Times[15][16] and has regularly appeared as a commentator on TV and radio.[17][18]

Harrison was appointed as a member of the government's Economic Advisory Council by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt in 2022.[3]

In June 2023 he was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for the constituency of Bicester and Woodstock in the next general election.[19]

Views on Brexit

Harrison believes Brexit damages the UK economy. In 2017 he wrote, "Q2 growth of 0.3% is not the end of the world, and I'm less gloomy than many on the outlook. But the rest of Europe is booming and we're not".[20][21]

Recognition

In 2014 Harrison was said to be one of the most powerful people in the UK and to be the main reason why Osborne could be a "part time" Chancellor.[22][5]

In March 2014, he was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 Profile programme.[23]

Harrison was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 Dissolution Honours Lists on 27 August 2015.[24]

Personal life

In his first year at Oxford he was in a band called Psychid with three other students.[25]

In 2004, he married Jo Orpin, a Magdalen contemporary who has worked as a divorce lawyer and family therapist.[1]<ref>

Since January 2017 he has been aTrustee of The Fore, a charity dedicated to funding small charities and social enterprises.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "All power to the new Tories". Evening Standard. 26 July 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  2. ↑ "Decision | Harrison, Rupert - Special Adviser, HM Treasury - ACOBA recommendation". gov.uk. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  3. 1 2 HM Treasury (17 October 2022). "Government to establish expert Economic Advisory Council". gov.uk (Press release). Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  4. ↑ Tomorrow' MPs [@tomorrowsmps] (21 June 2023). "BICESTER & WOODSTOCK: former George Osborne adviser Rupert Harrison picked as Conservative candidate" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. 1 2 Wright, Oliver (1 December 2014). "Key player: Rupert Harrison is the most important person in Government who you've never heard of". The Independent. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  6. ↑ Greaves, Mark (21 April 2011). "Spads you like: Osborne's Treasury advisers". Channel 4 News. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  7. ↑ "Poles apart in politics but best of friends away from the House". The Times. 30 October 2010. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  8. ↑ Griffith, Rachel; Harrison, Rupert; Van Reenan, John (November 2004). "CEP Discussion Paper No 659 | How Special Is the Special Relationship? Using the Impact of U.S. R&D Spillovers on U.K. Firms as a Test of Technology Sourcing" (PDF). Centre for Economic Performance. London School of Economics. doi:10.1257/aer.96.5.1859. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  9. ↑ Griffith, Rachel; Harrison, Rupert; Macartney, Gareth (March 2007). "Product Market Reforms, Labour Market Institutions and Unemployment". The Economic Journal. Royal Economic Society. 117 (519): C142–C166. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.844.8140. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0297.2007.02039.x.
  10. ↑ Commander, Simon; Harrison, Rupert; Menezes-Filho, Naercio (1 May 2011). "ICT and Productivity in Developing Countries: New Firm-Level Evidence from Brazil and India". The Review of Economics and Statistics. MIT Press Direct. 93 (2): 528–541. doi:10.1162/REST_a_00080. S2CID 57571331.
  11. 1 2 "Trustees and Patrons". The Fore. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  12. ↑ Ahmed, Kamal (11 June 2015). "Osborne's former right hand man moves to BlackRock". BBC News. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  13. ↑ Pickard, Jim; Agnew, Harriet (11 June 2015). "Architect of UK pension reforms Rupert Harrison joins BlackRock". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  14. ↑ "BlackRock Strategist Prefers European to U.S. Equities". Bloomberg News. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  15. ↑ Harrison, Rupert (27 June 2016). "We now need a proper roadmap to quell corrosive uncertainty". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  16. ↑ Harrison, Rupert (11 December 2015). "In praise of post-financial crisis paranoia". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  17. ↑ Budget 2017: The big debate. BBC Newsnight. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via YouTube.
  18. ↑ BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics [@daily_politics] (19 May 2017). ""I think that probably did cost us votes in 2010, but it was worth it for the authority it gave to go on & do diffifult things" @brharrison" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 August 2023 – via Twitter.
  19. ↑ Atkinson, William (22 June 2023). "Harrison selected in Bicester and Woodstock for his ability to "talk about local issues from a national perspective"". ConservativeHome. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  20. ↑ Eaton, George (26 July 2017). "The Brexit slowdown is real". New Statesman. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  21. ↑ Harrison, Rupert [@brharrison] (26 July 2017). "Q2 growth of 0.3% is not the end of the world, and I'm less gloomy than many on the outlook. But the rest of Europe is booming and we're not" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  22. ↑ Nelson, Fraser (16 March 2014). "Ever wondered how George Osborne can be a part-time Chancellor?". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  23. ↑ Sieghart, Mary Ann (15 March 2014). "Rupert Harrison". Profile. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  24. ↑ "Dissolution Honours 2015". Prime Minister's Office (Press release). 27 August 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
  25. ↑ "The Big Question | a quiet word with." Nightshift | Oxford's Music Online. July 2002. Archived from the original on 4 August 2002.
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