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Owen Jones | |
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 Jones in 2024 | |
| Born | (1984-08-08)8 August 1984 (age 41) Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England |
| Education | University College, Oxford (BA,MSt) |
| Occupations |
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| Political party | Labour Party (1999–2024) |
| Mother | Ruth Aylett |
| Writing career | |
| Subjects | |
| Notable works |
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Owen Jones (born 8 August 1984)[2] is a left-wing British newspaper columnist, commentator, journalist, author and political activist.[3] He writes a column forThe Guardian and contributes to theNew Statesman,Tribune, andThe National[4] and was previously a columnist forThe Independent. He has two weekly web series,The Owen Jones Show andThe Owen Jones Podcast.
Jones was born inSheffield and raised inStockport, where he attendedBramhall High School andRidge Danyers Sixth Form College.[5] He read History atUniversity College, Oxford, and graduated in 2005.[6] His mother is British computer scientistRuth Aylett[7] and his father, Robert Jones, was a union organiser. They met through their membership in theMilitant tendency, aTrotskyist group within theLabour Party.[8] Robert Jones developedprostate cancer,[9] and died in 2018.[7]
Before entering journalism, he worked as a trade unionlobbyist and a parliamentary researcher for theLabour Party MPJohn McDonnell.[10][11] At one point he was also hired by the historianEric Hobsbawm to index and archive his papers.[12]
Jones is a weekly columnist forThe Guardian[13] after switching fromThe Independent in March 2014. His work has appeared in theNew Statesman, theSunday Mirror,Le Monde diplomatique and several publications with lower circulations. He writes from a left-wing perspective.[14][15]
Jones published his first book in 2011,Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, dissecting cultural stereotypes of the British working-class as boorish and anti-social "chavs". The book was selected by criticDwight Garner ofThe New York Times as one of his top 10 non-fiction books of 2011, and reviewed by MPJon Cruddas.[16] He was awarded Journalist of the Year in 2012 at theStonewall Awards, along withThe Times journalistHugo Rifkind.[17] Jones' second book,The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It, was published in September 2014.[18]
He was awarded the Young Writer of the Year prize in February 2013 at the Political Book Award and donated half the £3,000 prize money to support the campaign ofLisa Forbes, a Labour parliamentary candidate, and the other half toDisabled People Against Cuts.[19]
He delivered theRoyal Television Society'sHuw Wheldon Memorial Lecture in November 2013,Totally Shameless: How TV Portrays the Working Class.[20]
While discussing thePulse nightclub shooting during aSky News live television newspaper review on 12 June 2016, he walked out when hostMark Longhurst maintained that the shooting was carried out against "human beings trying to enjoy themselves, whatever their sexuality". Jones insisted that the attack was a homophobic hate crime.[21]
Jones publishedThis Land: The Struggle for the Left on 24 September 2020.[22] Jones was interviewed byHuck about the book.[23] The book received a negative review from British trade unionistLen McCluskey,[24] and was praised byMelissa Benn in theNew Statesman: "Owen Jones has managed to produce a whodunnit political page-turner and a surprisingly fair account (given that Jones was a player in theCorbyn circles)".[25]
Jones has aYouTube channel which, as of October 2025[update], has 809,000 subscribers.[26]
In November 2025, Jones was sued forlibel by BBC editor, Raffi Berg, after publishing an article titledBBC's Civil War Over Gaza onDrop Site News in December 2024.[27] In the article, Jones accused Berg of "playing a key role in a wider BBC culture of 'systematic Israeli propaganda'".[28]
Jones spoke at a press conference to launch thePeople's Assembly Against Austerity on 26 March 2013, and regional public meetings in the lead-up to a national meeting atCentral Hall Westminster on 22 June 2013.[29]
He was awarded an honorary degree ofDoctor of the University (DUniv) byStaffordshire University in 2015 in recognition of his campaigning on social inequality.[30] Jonessupports abolishing themonarchy of the United Kingdom.[31] He has spoken out abouttransphobia andLGBTQ rights.[32][33] In August 2019, Jones and some friends were attacked outside a North London pub.[34][35] All the perpetrators were convicted,[36] with the judge atSnaresbrook Crown Court ruling that the attack was carried out because of Jones's sexuality and political views.[37]
He is a former member of theLabour Party, having held membership of the party since the age of 15 and cancelling his membership in March 2024.[38] In his reasoning for leaving the party, Jones stated that it had become "a hostile environment" for those that support the policies that party leaderKeir Starmer won his leadership on, which Starmer has since rejected, such as scrapping university tuition fees and support of public ownership.[39] Jones also criticised the Labour Party's rejection of a cap on bankers' bonuses and its opposition to a wealth tax, among other issues.[39] Jones has at times been critical of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party. In a March 2017 column forThe Guardian, he argued that Corbyn's leadership was "clearly failing" and warned that Labour risked electoral defeat under his stewardship.[40]
He supported We Deserve Better, a group which campaigned against Labour in favour ofGreen and independent candidates in the2024 United Kingdom general election.[41][38]
TheNew Statesman named Jones 45th inThe Left Power List 2024, the magazine's "guide to the 50 most influential people in progressive politics", noting that his "future influence will hinge on the electoral performance of the non-Labour left".[42]
He endorsedZack Polanski during his run in the2025 Green Party of England and Wales leadership election.[43]
Jones is gay and registered acivil partnership in September 2024 with a Brazilian doctor.[44]
Jones describes himself as a democratic socialist, indeed, socialism used to be a term the Labour Party was more than happy to champion.
