Matthew Taylor

Matthew Taylor, born on December 5, 1960, in London, England, has built a distinguished career spanning political strategy, public policy, and leadership roles in significant UK organizations. Educated at Emanuel School, the University of Southampton, and the University of Warwick, his early career saw him engage deeply in political activism and strategy. He became a Labour Party Warwickshire county councillor and, in 1992, unsuccessfully ran for Labour Party Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington. His political acumen led him to key roles within the Labour Party, including being in charge of their rebuttal operation in 1994, Campaign Co-ordinator, and Director of Policy during the 1997 general election. During this period, he contributed to the Labour Party manifesto, the pledge-card, and developed Excalibur, a rapid rebuttal database. He later served as Assistant General Secretary of the Labour Party until December 1998.

From 1998 to 2003, Taylor directed the Institute for Public Policy Research, a left-of-centre political think tank. His expertise was recognized by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who appointed him head of the Number 10 Policy Unit in 2003, tasked with drafting the Labour Party’s manifesto for the May 2005 general election. Following the Labour government’s re-election, he served as Chief Adviser on Strategy to the Prime Minister. Taylor was also a co-founder of the Labour Party-affiliated think tank Compass in 2003. In October 2016, he was appointed Chair of the Review of Modern Employment by Prime Minister Theresa May, resulting in the “Taylor Review” report, Good Work, published in July 2017.

Taylor transitioned to leadership roles in non-governmental organizations, serving as Chief Executive of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) from 2006 to 2021. In December 2020, he announced his departure from the RSA and was subsequently appointed chief executive of the NHS Confederation in June 2021. He continues to be a prolific writer, public speaker, and broadcaster, regularly appearing as a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s “Moral Maze” since 2008 and presenting the discussion program “Agree to Differ.” He contributes opinion pieces to national newspapers and has a monthly column with the Local Government Chronicle. Awarded honorary degrees from the universities of Brighton, Northampton, and Warwick, and a visiting professor at Nottingham Trent University, Taylor was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to employee rights and was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) in 2016.