Rupert HarrisonCBE (born 1 November 1978)^[1] is a British economist and a portfolio manager atBlackRock. He was from 2006 to 2015 the chief of staff toGeorge Osborne, the BritishChancellor 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 byChancellor of the Exchequer,Jeremy Hunt.^[3] In June 2023, he was selected as the Conservative Party candidate for theBicester & Woodstock constituency at the 2024 general election.^[4]

Born inSão Paulo, Harrison is the youngest son of a bank manager and a French teacher. He won a scholarship^[5] toEton College (where he wasCaptain of School).^[1]

He then went toMagdalen College,Oxford University where he initially studied Physics. However, he switched toPhilosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating with first-class honours.^[6] One of his tutors at Oxford wasStewart Wood, who went on to become an adviser to bothGordon Brown andEd Miliband, and the two remained friends.^[7]

In 2007, he obtained aPhD degree in Economics fromUniversity College London with a thesis entitled,Innovation and technology adoption. His academic research was published in theAmerican Economic Review, theEconomic Journal, and theReview of Economics and Statistics amongst others.^[8][9][10]

From 2002, Harrison worked at theInstitute 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 firmBlackRock, where he is a portfolio manager and chief macro strategist for multi-asset strategies.^[12][13][14]

Harrison has written opinion pieces for theFinancial 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 ChancellorJeremy Hunt in 2022.^[3]

In June 2023, he was selected to stand as the Conservative candidate for the constituency ofBicester and Woodstock in the2024 general election.^[19] However, he was not elected.

Harrison believesBrexit 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]

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 theBBC Radio 4 Profile programme.^[23]

Harrison was appointed aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the2015 Dissolution Honours Lists on 27 August 2015.^[24]

In his first year at Oxford he was in a band calledPsychid 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][citation needed]}

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

• 1978 births
• Living people
• People educated at Eton College
• Alumni of University College London
• Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
• British special advisers
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• BlackRock people

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