Social Market Foundation

Social Market Foundation Logo

The Social Market Foundation is a London-based think tank established "to provide a source of innovative economic and social policy ideas". Located in close proximity to the houses of Parliament, the SMF has been influential in helping with the development of policies in the areas of health, education, welfare and pensions policy reform. The Social Market Foundation, as the name suggests, attempts to develop ideas based on a fusion of the two themes of social justice and neo-liberal economics.

History

The Social Market Foundation was founded in 1989 out of the ashes of David Owen's Social Democratic Party (SDP), using money from David Sainsbury. It was created by supporters of Owen although it has never been officially affiliated with any political party. The think tank was originally linked to One Nation Conservatism however since the late 1990's it has been more closely identified with New Labour. In 2003 Gordon Brown delivered a keynote speech to the foundation on the subject of social markets.

In its early years of the SMF the thinktank was closely connected to The Conservative Party. Former SMF directors Roderick Nye and Daniel Finkelstein, went on to become Conservative Party advisersand as late as 2000, the SMF described itself as "steering an independent course between conflicting ideologies of conservatism and social democracy"

In April 2000 Conservative Party leader William Hague delivered a controversial speech to the SMF. Hague proposed the creation of detention centres for Asylum seekers arguing that asylum seekers should be detained in former army barracks because:

"People are arriving in Britain armed with expert knowledge of how to exploit our asylum laws; what to say on arrival; how to string out appeals and how to remain here if their cases are eventually turned down"..

In 2001 Robert Skidelsky was replaced by David Lipsey as chairman, this change led the the think-tank being more closely linked to New Labour and the abandonment of the goal from their homepage of steering a course between connservatism and social democracy. Philip Collins, a former speech writer for Tony Blair became the SMF director at this time.

People

Key Officers

David Lipsey (Lord Lipsey of Tooting Bec), Chairman | Ian Mulheirn, Director | Natalie Tarry, Deputy Director | Simon Griffiths | Jessica Prendergrast | Will Hoyles

Policy Advisory Board

George Osborne | Vince Cable | Trevor Phillips

Previous Board Members

Robert Skidelsky, Former Chairman | Rick Nye, Former Director | Daniel Finkelstein, Former Director | Philip Collins, Former Director | Ann Rossiter Former Deputy Director

Key Staff

• Ann Rossiter: Director and Chief Executive Officer since Jul '05; a former Director of Fishburn Hedges, the corporate communications consultancy, and Lexington Communications; 4 yrs. in Parliment for John Denham Mp and Glenda Jackson MP on pensions and transport policy; 4 yrs. in BBC Political Policy Unit; board member of OFT Futures Advisory Board
• Natalie Tarry: Dep Dir/Dir. of Research since Apr '06; 4 yrs. with New Local Government Network, an independent local govt. think tank; prior work at European Parliment;
• Dermot Kehoe: Managing Dir.; previous 8 yrs. at BBC in Public Policy, Strategy and Comm.; Secretariat to Iraq Commission; previous Director of Fabian Society, specilising in constitution reform and modernising govt.; former broadcaster/producer for GMTV

Board Members

Chairman: Lord Lipsey

• Viscount Chandos
• Gavyn Davies
• David Edmonds
• Daniel Franklin
• Martin Ivens
• Graham Mather
• Brian Pomeroy

Policy Advisory Board Members

The Policy Advisory Board should consist of 25 members who are consulted from "time to time."

• Victor Adebowale, Lord
• Wendy Alexander, MSP, Alumnus of the British American Project
• Nicholas Barr, Professor
• Liam Byrne, MP
• Vincent Cable, MP, Dr.
• Philip Collins
• Simon Crine
• Don Cruickshank
• Ralph Dahrendorf, Lord; SDP founder
• Evan Davis, Editor of BBC Economics
• Ed Davey
• Tony Giddens, Professor
• Liam Halligan
• Chris Haskins, Lord
• Peter Lampl
• George Osborne MP
• Lord Bhikhu Parekh
• Trevor Philips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality
• Lord Plant
• Sir Stephen Sherbourne
• Sue Slipman
• Lord Dennis Stevenson
• Lord Andrew Turnbull
• Lord Adair Turner
• Stephen Twigg MP
• Andrew Tyrie MP
• David Willetts MP

Patrons

• Lord Flowers
• Rt Hon Lord Owen CH
• Lord Sainsbury of Turville
• Professor Lord Skidelsky

Other Staff

• Business Manager: Claire Newman
• Events Manager: Sally Dobson
• Conference Manager: Kirstine Roberts
• Chief Economist: Ian Mulheirn
• Senior Research Fellow: Simon Griffiths
• Senior Research Fellow: Jessica Prendergrast
• Head of Health: Lyndsay Mountford
• Health Project Leader: David Furness
• Communications Officer: Robert Sharp
• Researcher: Barney Gough - Mar '06; co-written publications concerning new forms of equity release schemes and uniform business rates; also a health researcher for SMF; former research intern for Alan Milburn MP; former researcher asst. for interim report of Fabian Commission on Life Chances and Child Poverty
• Researcher: Rena Menne - Oct '07; researching flexibility and security in the British labour market and behavourial economics
• Researcher: Tom Richmond - Jan '08; previously taught A-Level Psychology; worked for Westminster MP;
• Researcher/Events Asst: Beth Foley - Jul '07; intern at Westminster Forum Projects in London and Global Youth Action Network in New York; studied in Berlin through Erasmus Exchange Programme
• Events Asst: Will Hoyles - Jan '08; previously with East Sussex County Council; intern for Hansard Society and New Local Govt. Network
• Associate Fellows: Niall Maclean, Saranjit Sihota, Alex Isaac, Robin Harding, Kieran Brett, Theo Blackwell, Vidhya Alakeson, Charitini Stavropoulou

Former Board Members

• John McFadden
• Baroness Noakes

Former Advisory Members

• Tim Allan, ex Downing Street spin doctor, then worked for Murdoch's Sky Television
• Matthew d'Ancona, Deputy Editor, Sunday Telegraph
• Daniel Finkelstein, Former Tory spin doctor (resigned '06)
• Deirdre Hutton
• James Purnell MP
• Dr Wendy Thomson
• Shriti Vadera international development advisor to Gordon Brown; (resigned '07)
• Ian Corfield, Office of Lord Stevenson CBE
• Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian
• David Goodhart, Editor, Prospect
• John Hatherly, M & G
• John Jackson, Chairman, Countryside Alliance
• Ruth Kelly MP
• Calum Macdonald MP
• Mervyn Pedelty, Chief Executive, Cooperative Bank
• Marion Poole, General Secretary, National Association of Friendly Societies
• Ann Rossiter, Fishburn Hedges
• Chris Walker, Director, Hill Samuel Asset Management

Former Staff

• Nina Temple: former secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain and Democratic Left
• Valerie Johnson: United Nations, the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service
• Jacqueline Cassidy: Development Editor working on the Financial Times, Reuters and ft.com
• Deputy Director: Beth Breeze (formerly Beth Egan)
• Research Fellow: Roger Wicks
• Researchers: Jessica Asato
• Director of Communications: Sarah Schaefer
• Events Manager: Valerie Johnson
• Conference Events Manager: Jaqueline Cassidy
• Finance & Administration: Ben Llewelyn

Funding

The SMF is funded by charitable foundations, companies and individual donors..

Location and Contact Details

Social Market Foundation Map

The Social Market Foundation is located in at an address which is also used by the Adam Smith Institute to host events. The building is located in close proximity to the Houses of Parliament.

Contact Details

Address: 11 Tufton St, London, SW1P 3QB

Telephone: 020 7222 7060

Fax: 020 7222 0310

Email: info@smf.co.uk

Website: www.smf.co.uk