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Allister Heath

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Allister Heath
Born
Allister Georges Freund Heath

1977 (age 46–47)
Mulhouse, France
NationalityBritish
Alma materLondon School of Economics
Hertford College, Oxford
OccupationNewspaper editor

Allister Georges Freund Heath OBE (born 1977), is a French-born British business journalist, author and commentator. He was appointed as editor of The Sunday Telegraph in April 2017.[1][2]

Early life and education

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The son of Alexander and Sylviane Heath, Allister Heath was born in Mulhouse in Alsace, France, to a part-British family.[3][4] Heath was initially educated at the College Émile Zola, Kingersheim, followed by the Lycée Lambert, in Mulhouse. He lived there until the age of 17, when he moved to England to study economics at the London School of Economics (1995–1998), followed by a post-graduate MPhil in the subject at Hertford College, Oxford.[2][5]

Career

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From 2000 to 2002, Heath was editor of the European Journal and head of research at the European Foundation. Since then, he has mostly worked in journalism. In 2006, he became an associate editor at The Spectator, continuing in this role until 2008. He was a contributing editor at the magazine from 2008 to 2011.[2]

Heath undertook a number of roles at The Business, a London-based magazine. In 2002, he was its economics correspondent, then from 2002 to 2005 was economics editor and leader writer, rising to the roles of deputy editor (2005–06) and editor (2007–08).[2] The publication closed shortly after his departure in 2008. Heath was editor of City A.M., a business newspaper, from 2008 to 2014. Since 2012, he has worked for The Daily Telegraph, initially as a columnist. From 2014 to 2017, he was deputy director for content and the paper's deputy editor.[2] He became editor of The Sunday Telegraph in April 2017, replacing Ian MacGregor.[1][2]

Heath has been Wincott Visiting Professor of Business Journalism at the University of Buckingham (2005–2007). He was chairman of the 2020 Tax Commission (a joint project between the Taxpayers Alliance and the Institute of Directors[6]) from 2011 to 2012, authoring The Single Income Tax: Final Report of the 2020 Tax Commission for it in 2012.[2] His first book, A Flat Tax: Towards a British Model (co-written with D. B. Smith), was published in 2006.[7][8][9] In the book, he describes Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as "two of history’s most destructive and flawed thinkers".[7] His second book, At a Price: the true cost of public spending, was also published in 2006.[2] In July 2016, Heath spoke at the 60th Anniversary Gala of the Institute of Economic Affairs.

Opinions

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In 2014, Heath wrote that it was time to reject crony capitalism and embrace the real thing.[10] In June 2018, Heath said that "Cultural Marxism is running rampant."[11]

In October 2019, Heath backed the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson, arguing "it is as good as it gets" and urging MPs to approve it.[12] In December 2020, he said he believed Brexit was a "positive shock for Britain" and the time the country had spent in the EU was "a calamity for Britain".[13] In June 2021, Heath held that the Withdrawal Agreement's Northern Ireland Protocol "was imposed on the UK by Brussels at the moment of our greatest weakness", arguing it should be renegotiated.[14]

In September 2022, Heath welcomed the mini-budget submitted by the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Kwasi Kwarteng, with unbridled enthusiasm. The budget was one of the primary factors which triggered a financial crisis in the UK. The chancellor was fired three weeks later and his tax cuts were withdrawn, followed six days later by the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss. In a front-page commentary in The Daily Telegraph, Heath wrote: "This was the best Budget I have ever heard a British Chancellor deliver, by a massive margin. The tax cuts were so huge and bold, the language so extraordinary, that at times, listening to Kwasi Kwarteng, I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming, that I hadn't been transported to a distant land that actually believed in the economics of Milton Friedman and F A Hayek."[15][16]

Awards and recognition

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In February 2012, Heath was announced as the winner of the Institute of Economic Affairs Free Enterprise Award for 2011.[17]

In October 2017, the commentator Iain Dale put him at Number 87 on his list of "The Top 100 Most Influential People on the Right"'.[18]

Personal life

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Heath married Neda in 2002; the couple have two daughters. He names his recreation in Who's Who as "family".[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b Mayhew, Freddy (13 April 2017). "Allister Heath appointed new Sunday Telegraph editor as Ian MacGregor takes on 'emeritus' role". Press Gazette. Archived from the original on 13 April 2017. Retrieved 13 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Heath, Allister Georges Freund, (born 1977), Editor, The Sunday Telegraph, since 2017". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u258487. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  3. ^ Heath, Allister. "France's grim estates are the perfect breeding grounds for terrorism". Telegraph. Archived from the original on 23 December 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  4. ^ "Allister Heath: 'Youth is just what the founders of 'City AM' were looking for' profile The Independent 21 April 2008". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  5. ^ "Profile in The Independent 1 January 2007". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  6. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18137548
  7. ^ a b Allister Heath (2006). "Flat Tax: Towards a British Model" (PDF). workforall.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 October 2015. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  8. ^ "allister-heath". Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 20 December 2018.
  9. ^ "Allister Heath Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements". www.allamericanspeakers.com. Retrieved 2 June 2022.
  10. ^ Heath, Allister (21 January 2014). "It's Time to Reject Crony Capitalism and Embrace the Real Thing". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  11. ^ Heath, Allister (13 June 2018). "Liberal democracy is dying as the world converges on authoritarian beigeness". Sunday Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 June 2021. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  12. ^ Heath, Allister (17 October 2019). "All Eurosceptics should back this deal - this is as good as it gets". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  13. ^ Heath, Allister (9 December 2020). "Our time in the EU was a calamity for Britain and a disaster for Europe". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
  14. ^ Heath, Allister (9 June 2021). "The imperial EU is blind to the folly of its unequal Northern Ireland Brexit treaty". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 10 June 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2021.
  15. ^ Heath, Allister (23 September 2022). "Kwasi Kwarteng's Budget is a moment in history that will radically transform Britain". The Daily Telegraph.
  16. ^ McKie, Robin; Louis, Yasmeen (16 October 2022). "From 'best' budget to a dead parrot: how Tory press turned against Liz Truss" – via The Guardian.
  17. ^ Allister Heath winner of 2011 Free Enterprise Award, Institute of Economic Affairs, 23 February 2012, accessed 25 September 2022
  18. ^ Dale, Iain (2 October 2017). "The Top 100 Most Influential People On The Right: Iain Dale's 2017 List". LBC. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2017.
Media offices
Preceded by Deputy Editor of The Daily Telegraph
2014–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by Editor of The Sunday Telegraph
2017–present


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