Tim Hames
Dr Tim Hames is a former Lecturer in American and British Politics at Oxford University and an ex-Assistant Editor of The Times who then served as Director General of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) from 2013-2019. He is a specialist in the relationship between business and politics. He is also now a best-selling author (The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain written with Dame Kate Bingham), and a consultant and senior adviser to institutions across a variety of spheres, but with a particular emphasis on the private equity and venture capital sectors. He is the co-founder of Acuti Associates, which specialises in advising on domestic and international political risk. Tim’s focus is on the UK, the US and China.
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Tim Hames's 2024 biography
Meet Tim Hames
Tim Hames is a specialist in the relationship between politics and business. His first career was as an academic at Oxford University with a focus on American politics and UK Government. From there he went to The Times where he was an Assistant Editor, chief leader writer, weekly political columnist and edited the newspaper overall on a regular basis. During that time, he became fascinated by the rise of China and, as a consequence, the internal operations of the Chinese Communist Party.
Subsequent to this, Tim became initially the Head of Communications and Public Affairs and then the Director General of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVCA) with members which ranged from the likes of Blackstone, The Carlyle Group and KKR to small venture capital firms. He has an unrivalled knowledge of and network within that section of the corporate community.
He is today a writer, speaker, speechwriter, consultant and senior adviser for entities which range from some of the world’s largest financial institutions to leading professional service providers, to start-ups (notably in tech) capable of unicorn status and a transformational effect on our society. He is a co-founder of Acuti Associates, which specialises in advising on domestic and geopolitical risk.
In 2022, he co-authored (with Dame Kate Bingham) a book entitled The Long Shot: The Inside Story of the Race to Vaccinate Britain. This was serialised in The Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, was a Sunday Times business book bestseller, a “Best Book for Autumn” for The Times, a Financial Times science book of the year and a Money Week politics book of the year. The paperback edition, with additional material relating to the pandemics to come and how to address them, is out now.
Tim Hames's 2024 talks & topics
THE UK GENERAL ELECTION OF 2024. A TURNING POINT FOR BUSINESS?
Changes in Prime Minister in the UK are not uncommon (especially in 2022). Yet, changes in party control of the UK government are much rarer. In the past forty years, they have only happened three times in 1979, 1997 and 2010. When they do occur, they have been highly consequential. The first of these elections led to an entirely new stance on the economy. The second triggered very widescale constitutional and social change. The third (by accident rather than design) created Brexit. The 2024 election could witness another change of party control in Whitehall. What will it mean for business?
INSIDE THE FORBIDDEN CITY. HOW MODERN CHINA REALLY WORKS. WHAT ARE ITS AMBITIONS?
Much of the outside coverage of China (even in elite publications) is unduly simplistic. President Xi Jinping is portrayed as the reincarnation of Chairman Mao. The leading figures of the Standing Committee of the Politburo are dismissed as inconsequential Yes Men. The country as a whole is deemed to be an entirely closed society. None of this is accurate. It is critical to understand what modern China is, how it works, and want it wants. It is vital to appreciate why its ambitions have changed over the past decade and what those aspirations will be in the ten years and more to come.
REPUBLICAN RENEGADE. THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE TRUMP FACTOR IN AMERICAN POLITICS.
The arrival of Donald Trump on the political scene has been the cause for utter bemusement in the wider world (and indeed for many Americans). Yet “Trumpism” as an outlook has deep routes in the Republican Party’s history from its foundation in the 1850s. The notion of the outsider businessman figure as potential national saviour is also long established on the American Right and dates back to the 1920s. Furthermore, the severe intellectual upheaval within the Republican Party created by the combination of the global financial crisis and the quagmire left by the intervention in Iraq left a void in both economic and foreign policy for Mr Trump to exploit. That is why the ex-President (despite his legal woes) still has a shot at being the next President and why Trumpism will outlive Trump.
THE EAGLE AND THE DRAGON. CAN US/CHINA COMPETITION BE CONTAINED OR IS A CONFLICT INEVITABLE?
There is no more important economic and political relationship in the world than that between the US and China. This is only destined to become more true as this decade develop. Yet in the past five years, the two nations have become increasingly antagonistic on issues ranging from access to key technologies to the status of Taiwan. The implications of this for the international business sector (in particular) are enormous. What is driving this divide? Where will it go next? What will be the wider impact? Can the risk of competition between the two escalating into actual conflict be contained?
THE NEXT ONE. THE AFTERSHOCKS OF COVID-19 AND WHAT FUTURE PANDEMICS WILL LOOK LIKE.
A few years ago, the prospect of a global pandemic appeared to be a distinctly abstract prospect. We now know that the possibility is real and that the costs in human and economic terms are staggering. What are the aftershocks of COVID-19 and how long will they last? What are the prospects of a new pandemic in the next few years? Do we have the right strategy to deal with a completely novel form of outbreak? How should business and society assess the odds and make the optimal preparations?
Tim Hames's 2024 speaking fees
- United Kingdom
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