Andrew Fisher (born 28 December 1979) is an English political adviser and researcher, writer, and trade unionist. He served as Director of Policy of the Labour Party, under leader

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...

, from 2015 to 2019.

Early life

Fisher was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and grew up in

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. He holds a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in Politics.

Professional career

Fisher worked as a parliamentary researcher for six years, and was policy officer at the Public and Commercial Services (PCS)

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

. According to Labour List,"Who’s been hired to work in Corbyn’s office?", ''Labour List'', 18 September 2015
Retrieved 9 November 2015 in 2006 he co-founded the Left Economics Advisory Panel (LEAP), a body chaired by

John McDonnell John Martin McDonnell (born 8 September 1951) is a British politician who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020. He has been the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Hayes and Harlington ...

. After Jeremy Corbyn became Leader of the Labour Party in September 2015, Fisher was appointed as an adviser. In November 2015, he was suspended from the Labour Party, following complaints from other Labour party members, for appearing to endorse a

Class War Class War is an anarchist group and newspaper established by Ian Bone and others in 1983 in the United Kingdom. An incarnation of Class War was briefly registered as a political party for the purposes of fighting the 2015 United Kingdom gener ...

candidate in the May 2015 general election. In a statement, Corbyn stated that he still had full confidence in him. Fisher apologised and said that he had been misinterpreted. His suspension was lifted by the Labour National Executive Committee later in the month, and he was issued with a warning. On 21 September 2019, he announced that he was resigning before the end of the year to spend more time with his family. He had a key role in the party's campaign in the December 2019 general election.

Writing

Fisher has also maintained a

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

at LEAP Economics."About the author", ''The Failed Experiment'', The Radical Read Project deadlink
. Retrieved 9 November 2015 He is the author of ''The Failed Experiment: And How to Build an Economy that Works'', a book published in 2014 about the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. According to one reviewer, the book "argues for the urgent need for a fundamental democratisation of the economy, and recognises this will require a re-intensification of popular struggles." Fisher wrote an online article for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in the aftermath of the 2019 general election, published on 17 December 2019. He wrote another which was published on 18 January 2020, regarding the 2020 Labour Party deputy leadership election. In ''

The i ''The i Paper'', known as ''i'' until December 2024, is a British national newspaper published in London by Daily Mail and General Trust and distributed across the United Kingdom. It is aimed at "readers and lapsed readers" of all ages and c ...

'' on 17 February 2020, he wrote regarding the legacy of

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

and

New Labour New Labour is the political philosophy that dominated the history of the British Labour Party from the mid-late 1990s to 2010 under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. The term originated in a conference slogan first used by the ...

Television

Fisher appeared on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Politics Live ''BBC Politics Live'' is a weekday BBC News lunchtime political programme which launched on 3 September 2018. It broadcasts when the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament is in session and during the three-week party conference season. T ...

'' on 13 January 2020, with Steve Baker,

Anneliese Dodds Anneliese Jane Dodds (born 16 March 1978) is a British Labour and Co-operative politician and public policy analyst who served as Minister of State for Development and Minister of State for Women and Equalities from July 2024 to February 2025. S ...

and Sarah Baxter. He was also interviewed by Katie Razzall for the BBC's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'' on 17 January 2020, regarding the 2020 Labour Party leadership election.Newsnight on BBC iPlayer, 17 January 2020
/ref>

Personal life

Fisher is married with a son and has lived in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

since 2006.

References

External links

Blog maintained by Fisher at LEAP Economics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Andrew Living people 1979 births Labour Party (UK) officials Government advisors English political writers English activists People from Worthing Trade unionists from Hampshire Trade unionists from Sussex Writers from Portsmouth