Liam Booth-Smith

Liam David Scott Booth-Smith, Baron Booth-Smith (born 1987), is a British political adviser who served as Downing Street Chief of Staff under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from October 2022 to July 2024. He previously served as Sunak's de facto chief of staff as head of the Joint Economic Unit during his chancellorship.

Early life and education Liam was born Liam Scott-Smith in 1986 in Stoke-on-Trent and was raised by his mother Lisa, a single parent who lived on a council estate in north Staffordshire, as the eldest of three children.

Booth-Smith received funding to attend Newcastle-under-Lyme School under the Assisted Places Scheme to help bright students enter elite schools. After the scheme was discontinued in 1997, he attended the state-funded Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College. He read politics and social policy at Loughborough University, where he also played cricket. In July 2019, Booth-Smith became a senior adviser to prime minister Boris Johnson upon his accession as prime minister. overseeing the Treasury's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Booth-Smith gained the nickname "Travolta of the Treasury" for wearing a leather jacket with his shirt buttons undone.

He was paid between £140,000 and £145,000 per year.

Private sector In June 2025, Booth-Smith joined the AI firm Anthropic as chief of external affairs. Upon his appointment, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments required him not to lobby or use privileged government information for two years, imposing strict limits on his communication with the UK government, so as to prevent undue influence given his prior senior government role.

Peerage Booth-Smith was nominated for a life peerage in the 2024 Dissolution Honours. He was created Baron Booth-Smith, of Newcastle-under-Lyme in the County of Staffordshire, on 21 August 2024.

Personal life He married Olivia Oates in 2022. Oates was a special adviser to Simon Clarke as a junior minister to Sunak at the Treasury, He has two children.