An Audience With

From the Full Monty to fund management: Why Rupert Harrison swapped politics for BlackRock

George Osborne’s former chief of staff says asset managers have to evolve — and explains why he used to have a screen dedicated to Donald Trump’s Tweets

Monday 10 March 2025 at 00:00

Harrison says he still admires Larry Fink as his eyes turn back to a ‘difficult and fascinating’ time for governments
Harrison says he still admires Larry Fink as his eyes turn back to a ‘difficult and fascinating’ time for governments Photo Illustration: Danilo Agutoli for FN

Rupert Harrison had been at Oxford University for a year when he asked to switch courses. He had originally opted for physics, not because of a love for science, but because it offered the best chance of going to the same university as his bandmates.  

“We were called The Full Monty, which was a great name until the film came out and people started to think we were strippers,” he says. “We played angsty rock and thought we were the successors to Radiohead.”