Will Hutton

Will Hutton is a political economist, author and columnist.

After nine years as Principal of Hertford College, Will retired in August 2020. He is an Associate with the London School of Economics Centre for Economic Performance, a non-executive director of the Satellite Applications Catapult, co-chair of the Purposeful Company, an associate of the Oxford Martin School, and writes a regular column for The Observer.

As one of the leading economics commentators in the UK, Will is regularly called on to advise senior political and business figures and comment in the national and international media. He began his career in the City before moving to the BBC where he became Economics Editor of Newsnight, then went on to be Economics Editor at The Guardian. He spent four years as Editor-in-Chief of The Observer and was Chief Executive of The Work Foundation 2000-2008.

Will has chaired two government commissions – one on public sector pay for the coalition government in 2011 and one on the creative industries for the Labour government in 2007. He was rapporteur for the EU’s Kok Commission in 2004, and was one of “twelve wise men and women” to reflect on the future of Europe at the request of President Prodi in 2002. He has chaired four think tanks – the Employment Policy Institute, the Work Foundation, the Big Innovation Centre and the Purposeful Company. He was a trustee of the Scott Trust 2006-2017.

His many best selling books include The Revolution That Never Was (1986), The State We’re In (1995), The World We’re In (2000), with Tony Giddens On The Edge (2001), The Writing on the Wall: China and the West in the 21st Century (2008), Them and Us (2011), How Good We Can Be (2015), and most recently with Andrew Adonis Saving Britain: How We Can Prosper in a New European Future (2018).