Liam Halligan is an economist, author, and broadcaster – and also has extensive business experience. Since 2003, he has written his multiple award-winning weekly “Economics Agenda” column in The Sunday Telegraph – which enjoys a large domestic and international following and has been recognised with a British Press Award, the highest prize in UK print journalism. He also created and co-presents the Telegraph’s hugely-popular weekly “Planet Normal” podcast – which regularly appears in the Apple news podcast top-10 global rankings.
Liam’s latest book – Home Truths: The UK’s Chronic Housing Shortage – How it Happened, Why it Matters and How to Solve it – was published in 2019 to rave reviews. The Times described the book as “vivid and lucid, a brilliantly written gem” while the Guardian called it “splendid”. The housing charity Shelter said Home Truths was “full of eloquence and moral clarity – a call to arms for politicians and campaigners of all parties and none”. Andrew Neil said the book was “a must-read across Westminster, Whitehall and beyond” describing Liam as “a one-off – a card-carrying economist, with high-level political access, who can explain complex issues in readable, vivid prose”.
Along with his roles at The Telegraph and GB News, Liam also writes regularly for The Spectator and The Sun and has appeared countless times on flagship BBC shows – including Question Time, Any Questions and Today, as well as on Sky News, CNBC, Bloomberg TV and many others.
He previously featured three times a week on CNN-Talk – analysing global political and economic news live, for a worldwide television audience.
Earlier in his career, Liam was based in Moscow – where he wrote an influential column in The Moscow Times, while covering Russia and the Former Soviet Union for The Economist and The Economist Intelligence Unit. He was then appointed as Political Correspondent for The Financial Times (based in Parliament) and then spent almost a decade leading the Economics and Business coverage for Channel 4 News.
He has since continued to research, write and present hard-hitting Dispatches documentaries for Channel 4 – and has won the Wincott Business Broadcast Award a record four times, as well being twice recognised as the World Leadership Forum Business Broadcaster of the Year.
Liam is a very experienced public speaker – who combines widely recognised expertise with personality and humour. He has given keynote addresses to numerous high-level audiences, both in person, after-dinner and on-line, headlining events run by Thomson Reuters, Euromoney, the CFA Institute, Deutsche Bank, Adam Smith Conferences, and the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.
He has also hosted an array of conferences, often on complex economic and financial issues, for clients ranging from the Association of British Insurers, The Financial Conduct Authority, Eversheds, Caterforce Suppliers, Microsoft, the Telegraph Festival of Business and the OECD’s flagship 50th Anniversary Forum.
As a leading economics journalist and recognised policy expert, Liam has been called to testify in front of numerous committees of both the House of Common and the House of Lords – on subjects ranging from housing to the UK’s “digital divide”.
But his range of experience and expertise, as both a speaker and convener, extends beyond economic and business themes, to include political, diplomatic, and geo-strategic issues too, relating to the UK, Europe and beyond. He has a particularly deep knowledge of the post-Communist world, emerging markets more broadly and global energy markets.
Liam holds a first-class BSc. (Econ) degree from the University of Warwick and an MPhil (Econ) from St Antony’s College, Oxford University. He sits on the Advisory Board of the Social Market Foundation, a Westminster-based think-tank, and also The Centre for Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy, an ESRC-funded research body based in the University of Warwick’s Economics Department.
A citizen of both the UK and the Republic of Ireland, he is listed in Who’s Who, De Bretts and the Dictionary of International Biography.
“Liam Halligan is the best economics journalist of his generation – his writing is always vivid and lucid”.
Lord Nigel Lawson, former Chancellor
“What Liam Halligan doesn’t know about the UK economy or Brexit isn’t worth knowing“.
Iain Dale, LBC presenter
“Halligan is an economist I hugely respect and whose work I follow closely”.
Lord David Owen, Former SDP Leader and Independent Peer
