Ruth Jane Lea (born 22 September 1947) is a British economist, who works in the financial sector and has also worked in the Civil Service, policy research bodies and the media.
Born in Cheshire, she attended Lymm Grammar School, and the Universities of York and Bristol.[1] She spent nearly sixteen years in the British Civil Service, working in the Treasury, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Central Statistical Office and the Civil Service College. She also lectured in economics at Thames Polytechnic (now the University of Greenwich).
She then moved into the City of London, where she was Chief Economist at Mitsubishi Bank, where she became a regular television and radio interviewee on economic matters, and Chief UK Economist at Lehman Brothers. She was then Economics Editor at ITN; Head of the Policy Unit at the Institute of Directors, a post which she held between 1995 and 2003. She was famously sacked from the Institute of Directors, allegedly after pressure from the Labour government.[2] She was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies from 2004 to 2007 and Director of Global Vision Global Vision,[3] from 2007 to 2010. She is also a former governor of the London School of Economics
She serves as Economic Adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group, having been since 2005 a Non-Executive Director.[4] She writes on economic matters for various publications including The Guardian[5] and The Daily Telegraph. She is also on the Advisory Council of the People's Pledge, a member of the Institute of Economic Affairs' Shadow Monetary Policy Committee and Economic Adviser to Global Vision.
She is involved in many Centre Right think tanks and on the Advisory Council of Reform.[6]