British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed Minouche Shafik, a former Columbia University president, as his chief economic adviser, part of efforts to bolster his team before what is set to be a difficult end to the year.
Shafik’s appointment and a move to bring Darren Jones, finance minister Rachel Reeves’ deputy, to his Downing Street office indicate that Starmer believes he needs better economic advice before a budget later this year that is expected to include further tax rises.
Jones will be replaced by Labour lawmaker James Murray, who held a more junior role in the finance ministry, Starmer’s office said in a statement.
In a wider shake-up of Downing Street operations, Starmer also replaced his principal private secretary, who runs his team’s office, and appointed a new director of communications.
After more than a year in power, Starmer’s team has been criticized by some in his party for failing to sell his government’s sometimes difficult policy decisions and champion its successes, as Labour’s poll ratings have slumped.
The new appointments may strengthen the economic advice Starmer receives before a tricky budget for Reeves, who has little room to manoeuvre after sticking to her so-called fiscal rules with the aim of balancing day-to-day spending with tax revenue by 2029.
“I think the creation of a role for Darren Jones is a good move,” said one Labour lawmaker. “He’s clearly got an eye for the details but understands the politics too.”
Shafik to bring additional expertise
Shafik was the Bank of England's deputy governor for markets and banking between August 2014 and February 2017, before leaving midway through her term to become vice chancellor of the London School of Economics.
In 2023, she became president of New York's Columbia University, but quit after little more than a year when the university's handling of months of student protests over Israel's war in Gaza drew criticism from both sides.
Earlier in her career, Shafik was the top civil servant in Britain's foreign aid ministry and subsequently deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund, where she oversaw the IMF's work in Europe and the Middle East during the euro zone debt crisis and the Arab Spring.
"This role and the additional expertise will support the government to go further and faster in driving economic growth and raising living standards for all," Starmer's office said.
Shafik, who is also a non-partisan member of parliament's upper chamber, the House of Lords, was born in Egypt and grew up in the southern United States, before completing a doctorate in economics at the University of Oxford.
In a 2021 book, she called for policies that combined income floors with incentives to work, pensions linked to life expectancy, and interventions in early childhood to equalize opportunity.
