PeopleofSuperintelligence

Public voice

Liam Booth-Smith

Also known as Liam Booth-Smith, Baron Booth-Smith

As of October 2026, Liam Booth-Smith leads Anthropic’s policy work across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He grew up in Newcastle-under-Lyme and studied politics and social policy at Loughborough. After leading Localis and moving to Policy Exchange, he advised Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak before serving as Sunak’s Downing Street chief of staff. He entered the House of Lords in 2024 and joined Anthropic in 2025 to work on policy for powerful AI systems. In 2026, he argued that ethical principles should be built into AI models.

Now at
Anthropic

Timeline

  1. By 2022

    A politics degree at Loughborough

    He grows up in a single-parent household in Newcastle-under-Lyme and holds a BA in politics and social policy from Loughborough by 2022.

  2. 2018

    Localis to Policy Exchange

    In 2018, he leaves Localis after two years as chief executive and moves to Policy Exchange as director of policy and development.

  3. 2019–2022

    Advising from No. 10

    In 2019, he joins Boris Johnson’s incoming No. 10 team after housing-policy work for Communities Secretary James Brokenshire. He then works with Rishi Sunak’s Treasury through a joint economic unit and runs Sunak’s 2022 leadership campaign.

  4. October 2022–July 2024

    Sunak’s chief of staff

    He serves as Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street chief of staff from October 2022 to July 2024.

  5. 2024

    A life peerage

    He becomes a life peer in 2024 and enters the House of Lords.

  6. 2025

    Anthropic’s policy work

    In 2025, he takes a full-time External Affairs role at Anthropic, supporting policy work on increasingly powerful AI models, their deployment, and their wider social and economic effects.

  7. As of October 2026

    Leading EMEA policy

    He leads Anthropic’s policy work for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. In October 2026, he tells UK lawmakers that AI safety rules should be binding; in September 2026, he argues that ethical principles should be built into models from the start.

Career

  1. Since 2025AnthropicExternal Affairs
  2. From 2024House of LordsLife peer
  3. Until 2022HM TreasuryAdviser
  4. 2019–202410 Downing StreetAdviser, Chief of Staff
  5. Until 2018LocalisChief Executive
  6. From 2018Policy ExchangeDirector of Policy and Development

Education

  1. Loughborough UniversityBA in politics and social policy

From the biography.

  1. 11 of 74 people shaping AI with a former OpenAI role now work at AnthropicIncludes Anthropic. Our estimates of where OpenAI recruits came from and where people with former OpenAI roles work now.
  2. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labsIncludes Anthropic. The median h-index is 54 at universities and 20 at frontier AI labs. We compare publishing careers, citations and moves to estimate how universities and frontier labs contribute to AI research.
  3. Nonprofit roles are 2.5 times as common in AI safetyIncludes Anthropic. We estimate where people focused on safety, alignment and evaluation work. Nonprofit roles appear for 27.8% of safety people with known affiliations, compared with 11.2% in other areas.
  4. Google alumni founded or led 82 other organizations, the most among the labs we compareIncludes Anthropic. We trace 189 organizations founded or led by AI lab alumni, and 196 career moves between the labs.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Liam Booth-Smith yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Meet the top teams: the key election advisers to Sunak and Starmer | General election 2024 | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  2. Meet the elite, chic circle of youngsters behind Rishi's premiership | Tatler tatler.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  3. Localis Chief Executive to step down - Localis localis.org.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  4. Meet Team Boris: the strategists and advisers Johnson is planning to bring into Number 10 | London Evening Standard | The Standard standard.co.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  5. Who’s who in No 10? The team shaping Sunak’s approach to next election | Rishi Sunak | The Guardian theguardian.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  6. Liam Booth-Smith - Bennett School of Public Policy bennettschool.cam.ac.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  7. Advice Letter: Liam Booth-Smith, External Affairs, Anthropic PBC gov.uk. Checked 18 October 2026.
  8. OpenAI and Anthropic Tell British Lawmakers: Regulate Us | WIRED wired.com. Checked 18 October 2026.
  9. IA, Booth-Smith (Anthropic) 'integrare la questione etica nella progettazione' - Economia - Ansa.it ansa.it. Checked 18 October 2026.