Paul Johnson to leave influential IFS economics thinktank

The longstanding head of Britain's most influential economics thinktank and one of the most influential figures in Westminster politics, Paul Johnson, will stand down next year.

The director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said he would step down from the position in the summer of 2025 to take up the role as the provost of Queen's College, Oxford.

One of the leading authorities on tax and spending policy in Britain, Johnson is regarded as a significant figure in shaping policy, with the ear of the chancellor and MPs from across the political spectrum.

Having led the IFS since January 2011, he holds significant influence in economic policymaking, with the thinktank occupying a pivotal role as an arbiter on government budgets and other tax and spending decisions.

However, the thinktank, which was founded in 1969, has also faced criticism for reinforcing orthodox approaches to economic policymaking, and for focusing heavily on tax and spending issues at the expense of wider social considerations.

Johnson is well known for his commentary in the media on the UK public finances and decisions taken in the budget, including his recent critiques of planned tax and spending measures in the chancellor's set piece on 30 October.

This month, the IFS director suggested Rachel Reeves would need to "grasp the nettle" to balance the books with £25bn in tax increases, if she wanted to meet her goal of ensuring no return to austerity while balancing day-to-day expenditure with tax receipts.

Johnson also set the tone for the general election campaign on the economy earlier this year, warning that both Labour and the Conservatives were engaged in a "conspiracy of silence" on the challenges in the public finances.

He said it was a "bittersweet moment" that he was stepping down from the thinktank, having joined the organisation in 1988 as a new graduate, leaving in 1998 and returning as director in 2011.

"The IFS has been an incredibly important part of my life. I love it, what it does and what stands for, and all my amazing colleagues. But after 14 years at the helm, it feels like the right time to move on and start a new chapter in my life," he said.

"I am incredibly excited to be moving to the Queen's College, a wonderful institution in one of the world's very best universities, and look forward to working with a new set of colleagues and brilliant young people."

Harry Gaskell, the chair of the IFS board of trustees, said: "We will be very sad to see him go, but he leaves us in robust good health.

"And Paul's legacy will endure, I have every confidence that our research and professional services staff will continue to produce an impressive quantity of policy-relevant research of outstanding quality."