Our Team
The EGF cross-party Management Council
Lord (Norman) Blackwell was chair of Lloyds Banking Group until 2021 and has held many senior roles in financial services and a range of other industries as well as regulatory bodies. He was head of the Prime Minister’s Policy Unit (1995-97)
Steve McGuirk CBE is the former Chief Fire Officer of Greater Manchester. He is currently chair of an NHS hospital (Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).
Jeremy Browne was a Liberal Democrat Minister at the Foreign Office and the Home Office. He is the chief executive of Canning House, the UK’s leading forum on Latin America
Greg Rosen is chair of the Labour History Group, Senior Counsel at SEC Newgate and a former Visiting Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London
Zenna Atkins is chief executive of the charity Dallaglio Rugby Works. She is the former chair of Ofsted and former group chair of Places for People. She has served on a number of government boards including the Royal Navy and HM Treasury
Michael Jary is Senior Adviser and former Worldwide Managing Partner at OC&C. He was Lead Non-Executive Director for Government (2022-25)
Rupert Soames OBE is chair of the CBI, chair of Smith & Nephew and formerly CEO of Aggreko and Serco
Patrick Barbour, EGF Founder and Director
The Effective Governance Forum was founded, directed and financially supported from the outset by Patrick Barbour.
Patrick had a successful business career having been Executive Chairman of Barbour Index plc and Microgen plc, both of which companies went on to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.
He devoted the last 30 years of his life to developing policies to improve the United Kingdom. His focus for the last decade has been on the Effective Governance Forum and he, together with the Barbour family, have ensured that the work of the EGF will continue.
Patrick died on 5 June 2025. His obituary in the Daily Telegraph is here and his obituary in The Times is here.
Team
Andrew Haldenby was Director of the cross-party think tank Reform from 2005 to 2019 during which time Reform became the leading Westminster think tank for public service reform and productivity.
He stepped down from Reform in 2019 to advise a number of companies working with government and public sector.
Tim Knox is a former Director of the Centre for Policy Studies and author.
Recent papers for Civitas include The International Health Care Outcomes Index and An analysis of the effects of taxes and benefits on household income.