Grace Blakeley (born 26 June 1993) is an English economics and politics commentator, columnist, journalist and author. She is a staff writer for ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

'' and panelist on TalkTV. She was previously the economics commentator of the ''

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

'' and has contributed to Novara Media.

Early life

Grace Blakeley was born in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is a town in Hampshire, situated in south-central England across a valley at the source of the River Loddon on the western edge of the North Downs. It is the largest settlement in Hampshire without city status in the United King ...

in Hampshire, England. She is half Welsh on her father's side. She was privately educated to GCSE level at Lord Wandsworth College, where she captained the girls' rounders team, and later attended the Sixth Form College, Farnborough. She studied

philosophy, politics and economics Philosophy, politics and economics, or politics, philosophy and economics (PPE), is an interdisciplinary undergraduate or postgraduate academic degree, degree which combines study from three disciplines. The first institution to offer degrees in P ...

at St Peter's College, Oxford, graduating with a first class honours degree. Blakeley then obtained a master's degree in

African studies African studies is the study of Africa, especially the continent's cultures and societies (as opposed to its geology, geography, zoology, etc.). The field includes the study of Africa's History of Africa, history (pre-colonial, Colonisation of Af ...

St Antony's College, Oxford St Antony's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1950 as the result of the gift of French merchant Sir Antonin Besse of Aden, St Antony's specialises in international relations, economics, politic ...

. After graduating, she worked as a management consultant for

KPMG KPMG is a multinational professional services network, based in London, United Kingdom. As one of the Big Four accounting firms, along with Ernst & Young (EY), Deloitte, and PwC. KPMG is a network of firms in 145 countries with 275,288 emplo ...

in their Public Sector and Healthcare Practice division. Blakeley then worked as a research fellow for a year at a left-wing

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

, the

Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a Progressivism, progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Lord Hollick and John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, Lord Eatwell, and is an independen ...

, in Manchester, specialising in regional economic policy.

Career

Blakeley joined the magazine ''

'' in January 2019 as its economics commentator, writing a fortnightly column and contributing to the website and podcasts. Her articles for the magazine included support for

Lexit In the wake of the referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016, many new pieces of Brexit-related jargon entered popular use.Al Jazeera. (2018)''Brexit jargon: From backstop to no deal, 17 key terms explained'' (Al Jazeera) Retrieved 2 ...

and a

Green New Deal The Green New Deal (GND) calls for public policy to address climate change, along with achieving other social aims like job creation, economic growth, and reducing economic inequality. The name refers to the New Deal, a set of changes and ...

. Her first book, ''Stolen: How to Save the World from Financialisation'', was published by Repeater Books on 10 September 2019. Michael Galant writing for the

openDemocracy openDemocracy is an independent media platform and news website based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 2001, openDemocracy states that through reporting and analysis of social and political issues, they seek to "challenge power and encourage d ...

website, praised the book as a "convincing critique of modern capitalism for socialists and sceptics alike". CapX's Diego Zuluaga commented in his review that it was a "sweeping

polemic Polemic ( , ) is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called polemics, which are seen in arguments on controversial to ...

against the market economy", and felt the author had been selective in how she presented evidence for her arguments. Blakeley became a staff writer for the

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

magazine ''

'' in January 2020. She has sat on the Labour Party's

National Policy Forum The National Policy Forum (NPF) of the British Labour Party is part of the policy-making system of the Party, set up by Leader Tony Blair as part of the Partnership in Power process. A Provisional National Policy Forum had been established by Bla ...

, which is responsible for policy development. Blakeley's second book, ''The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism'', was published in October 2020. Her next book, ''Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom'', was published in 2024. The book was Longlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction. Much of the book was written from

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

, which Blakeley made her new home after her relocation from London.

Political views

Blakeley identifies as a

and supports the use of

capital control Capital controls are residency-based measures such as transaction taxes, other limits, or outright prohibitions that a nation's government can use to regulate flows from capital markets into and out of the country's capital account. These meas ...

s. She supported

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 ...

and voted for him in the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and 2016 Labour leadership elections, though she criticised him in 2016 for failing to "challenge the hegemony of neoliberalism" in the way she had imagined he would. Blakeley stated in June 2024 that she left the Labour Party in 2023 over

Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...

's public statement during the

Gaza war The Gaza war is an armed conflict in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel fought since 7 October 2023. A part of the unresolved Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Israeli–Palestinian and Gaza–Israel conflict, Gaza–Israel conflicts dating ...

that Israel had the right to cut off Gaza's power and water. Blakeley promotes a

. Though she has emphasised it as running "counter to a capitalist system", she has argued that "even those who do not identify as socialists" may soon realise that a green industrial revolution is the "only option". She calls for a "fair transition towards a low-carbon economy". Blakeley is a

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

, and has branded the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

as "

neoliberal Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...

", " neo-colonial" and "run in the interests of financial and corporate elites". In 2019, she wrote an article titled: "Why the left should champion

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

", where she argued the EU was a barrier to building a socialist economy.

Works

Books

* (2019). ''Stolen: How to Save the World From Financialisation'' (London: Repeater Books), * (2020). ''The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism'' (London:

Verso Books Verso Books (formerly New Left Books) is a publishing house based in London and New York City, founded in 1970 by the staff of ''New Left Review'' (NLR) and includes Tariq Ali and Perry Anderson on its board of directors. According to its webs ...

), * (2024). ''Vulture Capitalism: Corporate Crimes, Backdoor Bailouts, and the Death of Freedom'' (London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...

Edited books

* (2020). ''Futures of Socialism: The Pandemic and the Post-Corbyn Era'' (London: Verso Books),

References

External links

British economist Grace Blakeley on Amazon, capitalism and socialism
Detailed interview (3 ½ hours) with Tilo Jung and Hans Jessen, 2 November 2021 on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Articles by Grace Blakeley
at

A World to Win podcast
hosted by Grace Blakeley
Articles by Grace Blakeley
at ''

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blakeley, Grace Living people 1993 births 21st-century English women writers Alumni of St Antony's College, Oxford Alumni of St Peter's College, Oxford Anti-globalization writers British anti-capitalists British women columnists English columnists English Eurosceptics English Marxists English people of Welsh descent English socialists English women non-fiction writers KPMG people Labour Party (UK) people New Statesman people People educated at Lord Wandsworth College People from Basingstoke Writers from Hampshire