John Blundell
About John Blundell :
From his student days at the then riot-prone London School of Economics to his two decades as Director General (and more recently Ralph Harris Fellow) of the Institute of Economic Affairs, the UK's most influential think tank, John Blundell has championed the role of the private sector including the example set by the University of Buckingham.
John first came to national attention while an undergraduate becoming national vice chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students; campaigning for Mrs Margaret Thatcher MP to become leader of the opposition; and writing a strong repudiation of compulsory student unions for The Daily Telegraph.
On graduation John rapidly became deeply involved in campaigning for the self employed, small business community through the National Federation of Self Employed, today called the Federation of Small Business or FSB. It's hard for us now to recall that in the 1970s there were people in public life who wished to "destroy the capacity to pursue self-employment".
John also fought against the far left for four years as a Lambeth Borough Councillor during the reign of "Red" Ted Knight and witnessed the birth of New Labour first hand in the form of Councillor Peter Mandelson's impassioned speeches.
Today the FSB openly acknowledges John's key role in building its reputation in press, parliamentary and scholarly/intellectual circles by his relentless attacks on the myths of the day. John himself is very proud of his role in introducing the Federation to the idea of group legal insurance. Over the past 25 years many tens of thousands of small businesses have been helped under this programme; it is even said that the Federation's symbol on a small businessman's door makes government inspectors back away.
John Blundell talks about Margaret Thatcher's massive achievements as British Prime Minister on Reason TV.
From 1982 to 1993 John and his family (Christine, Miles and James) were based in the USA where John was inter alia:
President, Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University (1988-1991);
President, Atlas Economic Research Foundation (1987-1991);
President, Charles G Koch and Claude R Lambe Charitable Foundations (1991-1992); and in a voluntary capacity
President, Congressional Schools of Virginia (1988-1992).
There was even a brief spell when he ran all four.
During this time the skills John had displayed at turning around and building non-profit groups became very honed and quite apparent to all as he made a very significant impact on all four of these groups indeed rescuing two from possible bankruptcy.
Among hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles John's analysis of the politics and economics of contracting out and enterprise zones deserve a special mention as does his work on the economics of regulation; his articles on South Africa in particular "Try, Beloved Country"; his critiques of the left-right political spectrum; his articles on foster care and adoption; his work to reform policing; his efforts to explain to America the real nature of the EU; his best-selling collection of essays Waging the War of Ideas (now in its 3rd edition) and his biography of Lady Thatcher.
John was invited to become Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs starting on January 1st 1993. He immediately repositioned the firmly toward academia and schools launching with Dr Roger Bate an Environment Unit which became the International Policy Network and with Professor James Tooley an Education Unit which became the E G West Centre for at the University of Newcastle. The Institute of Economic Affairs's Health & Welfare Unit was also spun off and developed as the independent think tank Civitas. The Institute of Economic Affairs was recently described by the BBC's Andrew Marr as "undoubtedly the most influential think tank in modern British history".
The Institute of Economic Affairs's building was purchased and the ground floor redeveloped to add a major new function room named after Dr Arthur Seldon allowing a much expanded diary of seminars, student and teacher days, panels, lectures, book launches and other events.
Under John's direction all publications were redesigned and outsourced to Blackwells and Profile and all conferences to MarketForce while restricted funds of some £3million plus were established to further the Institute of Economic Affairs mission. John also remained active in helping to build new offices from Croatia to Montenegro to India to Malaysia to Japan to Panama.
John has also been active in helping two UK charities namely Fairbridge which reaches out to disadvantaged inner-city youngsters and Connect which helps people who have had strokes with speech therapy so they can reconnect with society. With Fairbridge he has been a key mover in founding its Learn To Earn self employment programme which (with the Hon Sylvia Pearson) he helped bring from the USA. With Connect he has actively brought potential donors to its offices which has resulted in at least £1million in donations so far. John is also active in building a strong group of London-based alumni of his alma mater the King's School, Macclesfield, Cheshire and he personally funds an annual sixth form scholarship in economics named after his 'A' level teacher Mr Ian Wilson.
|
