John Hutton

Specialist Speaker John Hutton is a leading European expert on the public policy issues arising from major demographic and economic trends, particularly the pressures on pension schemes and public health systems as the average age of European countries’ populations edges upwards. In 2022 he was appointed as Chair of Make UK, the organisation representing manufacturing in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Lord Hutton of Furness has had a distinguished career in British public life. After working as a law lecturer in Newcastle he was elected in 1992 as Labour MP for Barrow and Furness. He served as Minister of State for Health from 1999-2005, then as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office. He had three Cabinet-level positions: Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and Secretary of State for Defence. He stepped back from active politics in 2009. In 2010 he was created a Life Peer as Baron Hutton of Furness.

In 2010 Lord Hutton was asked to lead a major review of public sector pension provision in the UK as Chairman of the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission; he proposed significant (and in various respects controversial) changes to public sector pension planning with a view to striking ‘an affordable balance between fairness and cost’ in the decades to come.

Lord Hutton has served as Chairman of the Royal United Services Institute; Chairman of the Nuclear Industry Association; Non-Executive Director of Sirius Minerals plc; Chair of the Board for My CSP; and European Advisory Director for the Dimensional Fund Advisers.  In 2017 John Hutton was appointed Chair of Energy UK,  the trade association for the British energy industry with a membership including suppliers, generators, and stakeholders.

Lord Hutton’s wide range of interests includes defence spending and military strategy. His much acclaimed book – First World War Kitchener’s Men – The King’s Own Royal Lancasters describes the grim reality of life in the trenches for men from the North-West of England.

Lord Hutton is an independent thinker and expert who has mastered many top British and European policy portfolios. He explains them in an accessible, forthright and thought-provoking way to public and private audiences.