Rupert Harrison

Rupert Harrison, CBE (born 1978 or 1979) was from 2006 to 2015 the chief of staff to George Osborne, the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers in the UK Treasury. Harrison is said to be one of the most powerful people in the UK in 2014 and to be the main reason why Osborne can do his job efficiently.

Harrison was educated at Eton College (where he was head boy) and studied at Magdalen College, Oxford University, where he was awarded an Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. From 2002, he worked at the Institute for Fiscal Studies before joining Osborne's team in 2006 and moving with him to the Treasury in 2010.

In his first year at Oxford he was in a band called Psychid with three other students. One of his tutors at Oxford was Stewart Wood, who went on to become an adviser to both Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband, and the two are apparently still friends.

In June 2013 it was reported by Guido Fawkes in the Sun Newspaper that Harrison delivered his son himself after the midwife was delayed, apparently earning him the nickname "safe hands Harrison".

He obtained a PhD degree in Economics in 2007 from University College London entitled, Innovation and technology adoption and his academic research was published in the American Economic Review, the Economic Journal and the Review of Economics and Statistics amongst others.

In March 2014, he was the subject of the BBC Radio 4 Profile programme.

In June 2015 Harrison joined BlackRock as chief macro-strategist for multi-asset funds that invest in equities, bonds and cash where he will reportedly earn £150,000 a year.

Harrison was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 Dissolution Honours Lists on 27th August 2015.