Will Hutton

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Will Hutton
Will Hutton

Will Hutton (born 1950) is a British writer, weekly columnist and former editor-in-chief for The Observer in London and currently Chief Executive of The Work Foundation (formerly the Industrial Society). The analysis in his books is characterised by a support for the European Union and its potential, alongside a disdain for what he calls American conservatism – defined, among other factors, as a certain attitude to markets, property and the social contract. In 1992, he won the What The Papers Say award for Political Journalist of the Year.

The right-wing newspaper The Daily Telegraph described Hutton as "Britain's foremost critic of capitalism and an outspoken advocate of affordable housing" in an article pointing out he is married to a property developer, allegedly one who rents out some inner city properties at exorbitant prices.[1]

Hutton joined The Work Foundation as chief executive in 2000 when it was named the Industrial Society.[2] As well as a columnist, author and Chief Executive, he is a governor of London School of Economics, a visiting professor at the University of Manchester Business School and Bristol University, a visiting fellow at Mansfield College Oxford, a trustee of the Scott Trust that owns the Guardian Media Group, rapporteur of the Kok Group and a member of the Design Council's Millennium Commission.[3]

Will Hutton (right), speaking to Peter Sutherland (left) and Garret FitzGerald (centre) at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin in 2006.
Will Hutton (right), speaking to Peter Sutherland (left) and Garret FitzGerald (centre) at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin in 2006.

Hutton studied at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, where he was introduced to A level economics by a teacher Garth Pinkney. He started his career as an equity salesman for a stock broker, before leaving to study for a MBA. He moved on to work in TV and radio, spending ten years with the BBC, including working as economics correspondent for Newsnight from 1983 to 1988. He spent four years as editor-in-chief at The Observer and director of the Guardian National Newspapers before joining the Industrial Society, now known as The Work Foundation.

As an author, his best known and most influential works are The State We're In (an economic and political look at Britain in the 1990s from a social democratic point of view) and The World We're In (where he expanded his focus to the relationship between the United States and Europe, emphasising cultural and social differences between the two blocs).

Hutton's most recent book The Writing On The Wall: Why We Must Embrace China as a Partner or Face It as an Enemy was released in the UK in January 2007. The book examines Western concerns and responses to the rise of China and the emerging global division of labour, and argues that the Chinese economy is running up against a set of increasingly unsustainable contradictions that could have a damaging universal fallout. On February 18, 2007, Hutton was a featured guest in BBC's Have Your Say programme discussing the implications of China's growth.

Hutton is married. According to the Daily Telegraph article cited above, Mrs. Hutton uses her maiden name Atkinson for her business called First Premise.

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Preceded by
Andrew Jaspan		 Editor of The Observer
1996 - 1998		 Succeeded by
Roger Alton
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