Polly Mackenzie

Polly Mackenzie is a writer, broadcaster and keynote speaker, and is the Chief Social Purpose Officer of the University of the Arts London. Previously, she was chief executive of Demos, the UK's leading cross-party think tank. She started her career in business journalism, moving into politics as an adviser to the Liberal Democrats, where she had various roles culminating in five years as Director of Policy to the Deputy Prime Minister during the coalition government. After leaving government, she helped to set up the Women's Equality Party and went on to found the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute, a charity working to break the link between mental health problems and financial difficulties. She blames nominative determinism for her polymathic interests, ranging from politics to religion, consumer rights to Tudor history and wellbeing to data protection. She has been a visiting fellow at Kings College London and is a regular contributor to UnHerd, Sky News and the BBC. She lives in London with her husband and three children.

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