Claire Ainsley

Claire Ainsley is a UK-based political writer and practitioner. Following the publication of her first book, The New Working Class: How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes, she joined Keir Starmer’s leadership team as executive director of policy for the Labour Party in opposition, a role she held from April 2020 to December 2022. Prior to this, she was executive director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

She is currently director of the Project on Centre-Left Renewal at the Progressive Policy Institute, Washington DC, where she works to promote international dialogue on responses to populism and political change. Ainsley writes and speaks widely on politics, economics and strategy, with a particular focus on working-class experience and political renewal.