Ed Owen

Executive Director

Ed Owen worked at the heart of the British government eight years until May 2005. As the senior political and communications adviser to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, he served in the Home Office between 1997 and 2001, and then in the Foreign Office from 2001 until 2005.

He brings high level experience of government decision-making and political communications issues, and a thorough understanding of Downing Street, Whitehall and Westminster.

While at the Home Office, Ed was involved in the development of government policy on a range of issues such as crime and security, policing, terrorism, race relations, immigration and constitutional reform.  He helped develop the legislation that resulted in the Terrorism Act 2000. He also assisted in the management of a series of crises to hit the government at that time including the near collapse of the passport agency in 1999, the Ariana jet hijacking in 2000 and the May Day Riots of the same year.  He has also worked on issues relating to animal rights extremism and animal research.

In the Foreign Office from 2001 until May this year, he was the senior political adviser on EU issues, including drafting the Labour Party’s manifesto for the European elections in 2003. He was heavily involved in developing the Government’s negotiating stance in the Convention charged with drafting the EU Constitution as well as the subsequent Inter-Governmental Conference.  He was also a key part of the high level team that helped manage the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq, and worked on vital foreign policy issues including the Middle East Peace Process, Zimbabwe and international terrorism.

Before 1997, Ed advised Mr Straw for four years before the 1997 General Election.  For part of that period, when Mr Straw was Shadow Environment Secretary, Ed helped develop Labour policy on local government reform and the party’s response to the 1992 Local Government Review.  Prior to that he trained as a journalist and worked as a local reporter in the North West of England. 

Ed regularly comments on political issues in the media.  In recent months, he has appeared on Channel Four News, ITV News, BBC Radio Four’s Today Programme and World Tonight, The Politics Show and Sky News.  He has also written for a number of publications, including the New Statesman and London Evening Standard.

He is a board member of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust.