Mark Littlewood

Mark James Littlewood[1] (born 28 April 1972) is Director General of the right-wing libertarian, free market think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA). He has formerly been chief press spokesman for the Liberal Democrats and the Pro Euro Conservative Party [2] and served as an advisor to Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron. Littlewood advocated voting Brexit in the 2016 Referendum on Membership of the European Union[3].

Early life

Littlewood attended The Forest School, Winnersh, off the A329 in the Borough of Wokingham, then in the county of Berkshire. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Balliol College, Oxford from 1990–93, and was Campaigns Director of Liberty from June 2001 to April 2004. When on sabbatical, he became the chief spokesperson of the campaign group NO2ID.[4]

Career

Littlewood was appointed as Head of Media for the Liberal Democrats in December 2004. He resigned from this position in May 2007, after saying that the introduction of proportional representation should not be a deal-breaker when negotiating for Liberal Democrat involvement in a coalition.[5][6] He was Director of Liberal Vision from 2008 to 2009, a classical liberal group within the Liberal Democrats, before taking up the Directorship of the Thatcherite think-tank the Institute of Economic Affairs in December 2009. Since taking up his role at the IEA, Littlewood has appeared several times as a panelist on the BBC's Question Time.

Littlewood has spoken extensively against regulation of tobacco producing multinationals on behalf of the Institute of Economic Affairs, who receive long-term funding from British American Tobacco, Japan Tobacco International, Imperial Tobacco and from the cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris International. Littlewood was accused of a "clear conflict of interest" by the All Party Parliamentary Group on Smoking and Health, which stated that he "clearly has a pro-tobacco agenda", while Jean King of Cancer Research UK stated that "for any organisation [such as the IEA] to promote a report saying that plain [cigarette] packaging can't and won't work without making clear that the authors are tobacco industry apologists is unacceptable".[7][8]

In October 2017, Littlewood was listed as the 45th most influential person on the British Right by the broadcaster and former Conservative Party candidate Iain Dale[9], up one place on his position in Dale's 2016 ranking of right-wing figures[10]. He rose to 38th in the 2018 list.[11]

References

  1. ↑ Companies House
  2. ↑ Bloch, Dan (10 December 2004). "Profile: Lib Dems' Danger Man – Mark Littlewood, Head Of Press, Liberal Democrats". PR Week. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  3. ↑ "Mark Littlewood on the EU referendum". Institute of Economic Affairs. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  4. ↑ Wheeler, Brian (11 February 2008). "The campaign group: No2ID". BBC News. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  5. ↑ Russell, Ben (9 March 2007). "Lib Dem spin doctor resigns after policy gaffe". The Independent. Archived from the original on May 27, 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2016.
  6. ↑ Oaten, Mark (2007). Coalition: the Politics and Personalities of Coalition Government from 1850. London: Harriman House. p. 302. ISBN 978-1-905641-28-4.
  7. ↑ Steve Connor (13 March 2012). "The PM, his pro-smoking aide, and a dirty war over cigarette packaging". The Independent.
  8. ↑ "Australia's new plain packaging law for cigarettes may have got Andrew Lansley off the hook". Mail Online. 21 November 2011.
  9. ↑ Dale, Iain (2 October 2017). "Iain Dale's 100 most influential people on the Right 2017. May tops it. Davis is second. And Davidson third. | Conservative Home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  10. ↑ Dale, Iain (3 October 2016). "Iain Dale's 100 most influential people on the Right | Conservative Home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2017-10-24.
  11. ↑ "Iain Dale's Top 100 Most Influential People on the Conservative Right | Conservative Home". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2018-10-01.
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