Shabbir Merali (OL2010) enlightens pupils thoughts, as he shares his journey into Economics and Politics.

Head Boy, Youki M welcomed back Shabbir to the School and the morning began with a career guidance session with Sixth Form pupils having the opportunity to ask direct questions around qualifications, skills and attributes needed for this industry sector.

This was followed by the Head Boy Goldhawk Lunch Lecture where Shabbir spoke about his career journey since leaving John Lyon and going onto studying Economics at University College London to his extensive career in Finance at PwC before entering politics. He also shared his insight on launching a tech start up called Footzie, and the associated competences he developed in investment pitches and marketing strategies.

Shabbir’s venture into Westminster was in 2018, when he joined as the Economic Advisor to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, at the heart of British policymaking that too during the tumultuous time of Brexit. Following a Cabinet reshuffle, he later moved to the Department for International Trade to work as the Economic Adviser to the Secretary of State for International Trade in 2019, and again to the Foreign Office in 2021. His career ultimately led him to join 10 Downing Street in 2022, where he was assigned as Special Adviser to then Prime Minister, Liz Truss. Shabbir is currently working at Cambridge University as a Policy Fellow.

Shabbir left pupils with words of wisdom; Senior people are also normal people, have a reason for being in politics, get involved, put in the hard work and most importantly, say yes to opportunities.

We wish him the best of luck for the future and look forward to having him back very soon.