Former Number 10 adviser and Badenoch campaign policy lead joins Institute of Economic Affairs
29 July 2022
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Housing and Planning
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The Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK’s leading free market think tank, has announced the appointment of Alex Morton as Director of Strategy.
In this new role, Alex will be ensuring that the IEA’s work is relevant and focused on renewing classical liberal and free market traditions for the challenges of the 2020s.
Alex is joining the IEA from the Centre for Policy Studies where he was Head of Policy, successfully developing policies on housing, tax and the environment. He also played a key role in Kemi Badenoch MP’s recent leadership campaign and was one of the handful with her from the very beginning as her chief policy adviser. He worked with her on key articles and speeches that injected the debate with new ideas and energy.
Alex was previously a Director at Field Consulting, and before that he worked in Number 10 Downing Street. In the No.10 Policy Unit he was responsible for local government, housing and planning from 2013-16, including working on key policies in the 2015 Conservative Party manifesto. Prior to this he worked at the think tank Policy Exchange, in Parliament, and the Civil Service.
Commenting on his appointment, Alex Morton said:
“I am very excited to be joining the IEA as Director of Strategy. The IEA has always focused on changing the paradigm and played a key role in the last free market revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
“The challenges are different now, but they are perhaps even bigger than they were in the 1970s. In my recent role on the Badenoch campaign we wanted to create new solutions for a new era. At the IEA I want to bring the same energy to solve the issues of the 2020s and 2030s, based on the IEA’s founding focus on the fundamental institutions of a free society.”
Mark Littlewood, the IEA’s Director General, said:
“Alex has been one of the most effective and erudite advocates of free market policy reform over recent years. With a wealth of experience in government, think tanks and the private sector, I know he will bring much needed market-based thinking to the corridors of power. Too often, we hear senior politicians and advisers saying, “I am a free marketeer, but…”. With Alex joining the IEA, I am confident we will see more and more of them saying, “I am a free marketeer because…”. I am excited to welcome him to the IEA team and look forward to working with him to bring some much-needed sound thinking to the public policy debate.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
Alex Morton will take up his position at the Institute of Economic Affairs at the end of September. A full list of current IEA staff is available here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems, and it seeks to provide analysis in order to improve the public understanding of economics.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
In this new role, Alex will be ensuring that the IEA’s work is relevant and focused on renewing classical liberal and free market traditions for the challenges of the 2020s.
Alex is joining the IEA from the Centre for Policy Studies where he was Head of Policy, successfully developing policies on housing, tax and the environment. He also played a key role in Kemi Badenoch MP’s recent leadership campaign and was one of the handful with her from the very beginning as her chief policy adviser. He worked with her on key articles and speeches that injected the debate with new ideas and energy.
Alex was previously a Director at Field Consulting, and before that he worked in Number 10 Downing Street. In the No.10 Policy Unit he was responsible for local government, housing and planning from 2013-16, including working on key policies in the 2015 Conservative Party manifesto. Prior to this he worked at the think tank Policy Exchange, in Parliament, and the Civil Service.
Commenting on his appointment, Alex Morton said:
“I am very excited to be joining the IEA as Director of Strategy. The IEA has always focused on changing the paradigm and played a key role in the last free market revolution of the 1970s and 1980s.
“The challenges are different now, but they are perhaps even bigger than they were in the 1970s. In my recent role on the Badenoch campaign we wanted to create new solutions for a new era. At the IEA I want to bring the same energy to solve the issues of the 2020s and 2030s, based on the IEA’s founding focus on the fundamental institutions of a free society.”
Mark Littlewood, the IEA’s Director General, said:
“Alex has been one of the most effective and erudite advocates of free market policy reform over recent years. With a wealth of experience in government, think tanks and the private sector, I know he will bring much needed market-based thinking to the corridors of power. Too often, we hear senior politicians and advisers saying, “I am a free marketeer, but…”. With Alex joining the IEA, I am confident we will see more and more of them saying, “I am a free marketeer because…”. I am excited to welcome him to the IEA team and look forward to working with him to bring some much-needed sound thinking to the public policy debate.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
Alex Morton will take up his position at the Institute of Economic Affairs at the end of September. A full list of current IEA staff is available here.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems, and it seeks to provide analysis in order to improve the public understanding of economics.
The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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