TAXPAYERS' ALLIANCE LIMITED (TPA) - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Grassroots Development Manager
- Grassroots Development Manager Read
Benjamin joined the Taxpayers' Alliance in September 2021.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Researcher Read
Callum first joined the TPA in March 2023 as an intern and became a Researcher in September 2023. He has a BA in Politics and International Relations and is currently doing a Masters in US History and Politics at University College London alongside working with the TPA.
Job Titles:
- Fundraising, Operations and Events Manager
Clare joined the TaxPayers' Alliance in July 2023.
A true Westminster local, Clare was born close to the TPA office, and has lived and worked in the area throughout her career.
Before working at the TPA, Clare worked at the Institute of Economic Affairs for 25 years on fundraising and event planning, working with world-renowned economists and authors. Clare volunteers at her local Church, driving the elderly to Mass, cooking for the homeless and as a florist, flower-arranging for major events.
Job Titles:
- Head of Research
- Head of Research Read
Darwin Friend returned to the TaxPayers' Alliance in November 2023 and is responsible for leading the research team.
He was previously a researcher and policy analyst before working in propositions for a fintech firm. Before joining the TPA, Darwin spent a period working as a researcher for an MP.
He graduated in 2019 with a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of East Anglia.
Job Titles:
- Is Director of the Adam Smith Institute
Dr Eamonn Butler is Director of the Adam Smith Institute, rated one of the world's leading policy think-tanks. He is author of numerous books on economics and contributes to national magazines and newspapers on subjects ranging from health policy, economic management, taxation and public spending, transport, pensions, and welfare.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow
- Research Fellow Read
Dr Lee Rotherham is a veteran from behind the stage scenery of European Union politics. After researching for the 'Westminster Group of Eight' Eurorebels, he advised three successive Shadow Foreign Secretaries, a role part-based within the European Parliament. This expertise led to his appointment as Chief of Staff to the Rt Hon David Heathcoat-Amory MP, British parliamentary delegate to the Convention on the Future of Europe, and a central role behind delegates opposing the European Constitution and the drafters of the Minority Report
He has been closely involved in a number of grassroots EU campaigning organisations over the years, most notably the Bruges Group, CAFE, and as a columnist for the European Journal. He has been extensively and internationally published on a palette of subjects. Since the TPA's last edition of the Bumper Book of Government Waste (which he jointly wrote), 2008 has seen him co-author a major book for Open Europe on the EU's PR budgets.
He is a fluent French speaker and tortures a large number of other unfortunate languages.
Job Titles:
- Head of Education at the IEA
Dr Steve Davies is the Head of Education at the IEA. Previously he was program officer at the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) at George Mason University in Virginia. He joined IHS from the UK where he was Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Economic History at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has also been a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University, Ohio.
Dr Tim Congdon CBE was the founder of Lonbard Street Research and is Chairman of the Institute of International Monetary Research. Between 1993 and 1997 he was a member of the Treasury Panel that advised the Conservative government on economic policy.
Job Titles:
- Head of Campaigns
- Head of Campaigns Read
Elliot Keck joined the TaxPayers' Alliance in January 2022 and is responsible for leading the campaigns team. He was previously Investigations Campaign Manager with specific responsibility for the TPA's War on Waste campaign.
Before the TPA, Elliot spent a period working in Parliament running the press and campaigns for a backbench MP, after a stint working for a think tank.
He has a master's degree in International Politics from City, University of London and a BA in History and Politics from University of Birmingham. While at university he did a year abroad in Canada.
Job Titles:
- Finance Director
- Finance Director Read
- TPA 's Finance Director
After studying International Relations at Exeter University, Emma worked in the European Parliament for a MEP before moving to London to work for a MP in the House of Commons.
Emma joined the TaxPayers' Alliance in November 2009 as Matthew's Executive Assistant. In this position, she played an instrumental role in organising the 2010 European Resource Bank where the TPA hosted over 200 taxpayer activists, think tankers and campaigners from across the world for a 3 day conference. The culmination of the ERB was a Gala Dinner for over 400 people in the Guildhall which was attended by Baroness Thatcher and addressed by the leading supply side economist, Dr Art Laffer.
Emma was promoted to become the TPA's Finance Director in January 2011. She has two children now and works part-time looking after the finances of the TaxPayers' Alliance.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Educational Entrepreneurship and Policy at the University of Buckingham
James Tooley is professor of educational entrepreneurship and policy at the University of Buckingham, with previous academic appointments at the Universities of Oxford, Manchester and Newcastle. His ground-breaking research on low-cost private education in developing countries has won numerous awards, including a gold prize in the first International Finance Corporation/Financial Times Private Sector Development Competition, the Templeton Prize for Free Market Solutions to Poverty, and the IEA's National Free Enterprise Award. His book based on this research, The Beautiful Tree (Penguin and Cato Institute), was a best-seller in India and won the Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Prize. Other of his books include Education, War and Peace and Liberty to Learn.
Job Titles:
- Investigations Campaign Manager
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive
- Chief Executive Read
John O'Connell joined the TPA as an intern in 2009. Since then he has worked at every level of the organisation which made him uniquely qualified to become Chief Executive beginning August 2016.
As a researcher, and later Research Director, he wrote major reports for the TPA on quangos, government capital procurement, regional business policy and local government pensions. He co-authored the influential paper How to Save £50 Billion: reducing spending for sustainable public finances, released in conjunction with the Institute of Directors. He also uncovered how local councils were spending Preventing Violent Extremism grants, finding more detailed information than could be gathered by Parliamentary Questions.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Researcher Read
Jonathan joined us in May 2023, having recently completed his undergraduate degree in Politics and Sociology at Queen Mary University of London. Before joining the TPA, Jonathan also worked in the digital media department of TalkTV.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director and Co - Founder of the Taxpayers' Union
Jordan Williams is the Executive Director and Co-founder of the Taxpayers' Union in New Zealand. His background is in constitutional and commercial law and accounting and in 2011 he was spokesperson for Vote for Change, a lobby group that campaigned against the retention of the MMP electoral system.
Job Titles:
- Professor of Finance and Economics at Durham University
Kevin Dowd is professor of finance and economics at Durham University. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, a senior fellow of the Adam Smith Institute, the American Institute for Economic Research and of the Cobden Centre for Honest Money and Social Progress, a member of Economists for Free Trade, a research fellow of the Independent Institute, and a member of the academic advisory board of the Institute of Economic Affairs.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow
- Research Fellow Read
Mark was previously the TPA's Campaign Director. He then worked as Head of Media Relations at the Institute of Directors and is now the Executive Editor of www.ConservativeHome.com.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Accountant and Partner at Keymer Haslam
Educated at Epsom College, Martin Haslam is a Chartered Accountant and Partner at Keymer Haslam. He specialises in smaller companies, many of which are on the Alternative Investment Market. He also specialises in capital taxes and the total funds under his management is valued at approximately £100 million. Martin regularly writes articles and letters to newspapers, mainly about such subjects as banks closing their branches in the High Streets of towns.
Job Titles:
- Investor, Property Developer
Robert Kilgour is a Scottish entrepreneur, investor, property developer and philanthropist who founded Four Seasons Health Care in 1988, opening its first care home in May 1989 in Fife in Scotland. He left the company in early 2000 when it was operating 101 care homes and employing around 6,500 staff, the UK's fifth largest care home operator, subsequently making his final financial exit from the company in 2004. Four Seasons Health Care is still one of the UK's largest care home operators with some 185 care homes, caring for about 8,000 residents and employing around 12,000 staff.
Robert founded and is CEO of Dow Investments Plc, now in its 32nd year. In 2004 he founded and is currently Executive Chairman of Renaissance Care which operates sixteen care homes throughout Scotland with around 1,200 staff. He is a co-founder and director of video and security systems specialists, NW Security Group, and was also a founder shareholder and chairman of Kingdom FM Radio, the local radio franchisee for Fife until he engineered its recent sale. Robert holds several other non-executive directorships as well as several Senior Consultant and Senior Adviser roles.
Robert's first business venture, while attending Stirling University, was running a stall selling jeans and t-shirts at Edinburgh's Ingliston Sunday outdoor market. In 2006, he founded the Scottish online political think-tank, Think Scotland, which celebrates its 15th anniversary later this year and he also founded, in 2017, SBUK (www.scottish business.uk) to campaign against a second Scottish Independence Referendum. He has also served on both the CBI Scotland Council and the CBI UK SME Council.
Born in Edinburgh, brought up in Fife and educated at Loretto School in Musselburgh, Robert now splits his time between his main home in London where his wife works and his home in Fife, whenever possible raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support - £2m plus over the last thirty years and he was recently appointed as Macmillan's first Ambassador in December 2018. Relaxation is trying to compete with his four adult children at any sport!
Rory started his career in 1990 at Barclays Bank in New York and worked in Tokyo, before returning to Jamaica as Foreign Exchange Treasurer for Jamaica Citizens Bank (now part of the Royal Bank of Canada). After completing his MBA, he joined Credit Suisse in London. In 1999, he founded and managed a wireless technology company before joining Emso Asset Management in 2003. As of April 2023, he has stepped back from his role as COO but continues to be a board member and shareholder of the firm.
Rory earned an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BA from Rutgers University.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow
- Research Fellow Read
Rory Meakin joined the TaxPayers' Alliance in November 2010 as a Research Associate. He has contributed to various projects and was Lead Researcher to the 2020 Tax Commission, playing a key role in the policy development of the Single Income Tax proposals.
In May 2012 he became Head of Tax Policy and was the author of 'How to abolish National Insurance' and 'How to fix corporate taxes'. Rory has also written for various outlets including the IPA Review, Taxation magazine, City A.M. and the Yorkshire Post.
Before working at the TPA, Rory worked in a governance team for the NHS. He has a degree in Economics and Politics and holds the Investment Management Certificate.
Job Titles:
- Researcher
- Researcher Read
Shimeon joined the Taxpayers' Alliance as a Researcher in March 2024, after graduating with a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He is originally from Singapore, where he previously served in the Armed Forces.
Job Titles:
- Research Fellow
- Research Fellow Read
Simon was a quantitative fund manager in London and Hong Kong. He is now a City Councillor and school governor in Canterbury.
Troy Lanigan is the Former President and CEO of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, as well as former President of the World Taxpayers Associations. He currently operates as a consultant.