John Leonard Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, (born 2 February 1945) is a British economist who was President of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1996 to 2020. A former senior advisor to the Labour Party, Lord Eatwell sat in the House of Lords as a non-affiliated peer from 2014 to 2020, before returning to the Labour bench.

Early life and education

Eatwell was born on 2 February 1945. He was educated at Headlands Grammar School in Swindon in Wiltshire. He studied at Queens' College, Cambridge, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1967: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab) degree in 1971. As a Kennedy Scholar, he studied at Harvard University and graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1975.

Career

Academic career

While studying for his doctorate at Harvard University, Eatwell was a teaching fellow in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences from 1968 to 1969 and a research fellow at Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1969 to 1970. In 1970, he was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and would stay with the college for the next 36 years. Having completed his doctorate in 1975, he was an assistant lecturer (1975–1977) and then lecturer (1977–2002) in the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Economics and Politics. He was additionally a visiting professor in economics at the New School for Social Research in New York City from 1982 to 1996. He was President of Queens' College, Cambridge, from 1997 to 2020, and Professor of Financial Policy at the Cambridge Judge Business School from 2002 to 2012. In May 2014, Lord Eatwell was appointed Chair of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Policy Research (IPR) at the University of Bath.

Political career

Eatwell was chief economic adviser to Neil Kinnock, the then-Leader of the Labour Party, from 1985 to 1992. He was created a life peer as Baron Eatwell, of Stratton St Margaret in the County of Wiltshire, on 14 July 1992, and joined the House of Lords as a Labour peer. From 1992 to 1993, he was the opposition spokesman on Treasury affairs, and on trade and industry. He served as Principal Opposition spokesman on Treasury and economic affairs in the House of Lords from 1993 to 1997. In 2010, he was appointed a Labour Opposition Spokesman for the Treasury in the House of Lords by former leader Ed Miliband. From 27 March 2014 to 23 April 2020, he sat as a non-affiliated peer. Once more sitting as a Labour peer, he has served on the Lords Industry and Regulators Committee since 14 April 2021.

Other works

Eatwell was chair of CRUSAID, an HIV/AIDS charity, from 1993 to 1998, and of the British Library Board from 2001 to 2006.

Personal life

Eatwell was married to Hélène Seppain, with whom he has three children, the Hon. Nikolai Eatwell (a partner at Clifford Chance), the Hon Vladimir Eatwell (a software developer), and the Hon. Tatyana Eatwell (a barrister). In 2006, he married Suzi Digby.

Selected bibliography

Books

Chapters in books

Journal articles

Papers

Arms