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.