There’s no place one former pop star would rather be than helping out Andy Burnham and John Healey with their economic policies as the new Prime Minister settles into No. 10
One former pop star has joined the government’s team of advisers. Neil Amin-Smith, who was the violinist in Grammy-winning band Clean Bandit, has been appointed as a senior Special Adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Amin-Smith, 36, started his political career in 2019, but before that, he, Grace Chatto and brothers Jack and Luke Patterson were part of Clean Bandit. The British electronic music group was formed in Cambridge in 2008, when Amin-Smith was studying History.
Shortly before the band released their debut album, New Eyes, he earned the credentials that would later make him an asset to the Treasury – an MPhil in Economics.
Clean Bandit then broke through the charts with their song Rather Be, featuring Jess Glynne. The song spent four weeks at number one and sold over 1.1million copies. The band continued to have several hit songs, but Amin-Smith left in 2016.
After leaving the band, Amin-Smith joined the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an economic think tank, as a research economist. He moved to the Treasury in 2019 as a senior policy adviser. He first started working with Rachel Reeves during this time as a primary political adviser to the Labour Party for policy affecting the City of London.
Also during this time, one Treasury official told Politico: “He’s unusually gorgeous, and quite stylish. He’s a bit of a popstar, but he doesn’t rub it in your face. It’s a kind of quiet, confident coolness.”
Before Clean Bandit released their albums, Amin-Smith was offered jobs from the Foreign Office and MI6. He told The Telegraph in 2015 that both roles were “very tempting”, but he had “no real regrets” about choosing music. “I don’t think I would have wanted to be working in the national interest as such,” he said at the time. And yet, 10 years later, he was referred to as Reeves’ “most trusted special adviser”.
Though Reeves has been replaced as Chancellor by John Healey, in a huge shake-up of the Cabinet following Andy Burnham’s rise to Prime Minister, Amin-Smith has been spotted at 10 Downing Street. According to The Times, Burnham appointed him to a Special Adviser role.
Healey has recently announced his first Budget will be held on 28 October. He said it will be a Budget that “moves money and power out of Westminster, into every postcode around Britain”.
The Treasury chief added: “It will be built on fiscal discipline. It will meet our fiscal rules. It’ll give businesses and families some of the stability they need to plan for the future. Now, let’s get on with the job.”
Former Manchester Mayor Burnham has made a number of changes to his cabinet since he became Prime Minsiter on 20 July. Ed Miliband has come in as the Foreign Secretary, while Wes Streeting has taken over the Ministry of Defence.
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