Matthew Elliott was born and brought up in Leeds. He moved down to London in 1997 to study at the London School of Economics, where he graduated with a First class BSc in Government.
Whilst at the LSE, Matthew was involved with the LSE Hayek Society and worked for the European Foundation – Britain’s leading Eurorealist think-tank.
After graduation, Matthew worked for a number of MPs and MEPs in the House of Commons and the European Parliament, before founding the TaxPayers’ Alliance in 2004 with Andrew Allum and Florence Heath.
Under his leadership, the TPA has grown from operating as a group of volunteers meeting in various coffee shops around London, to employing ten members of staff working from offices in London and Birmingham, attracting an average of 15 high-quality media hits every day.
In 2006, the TPA won the ConservativeHome “One to Watch” award and in 2007 the Bumper Book of Government Waste was awarded the Sir Antony Fisher Memorial Award. In November 2007, Matthew was presented with the Conservative Way Forward ‘One of Us’ award by William Hague and in December the TPA won the Stockholm Network's prestigious Golden Umbrella award for Innovation. In 2008, the TPA was named 'Pressure Group of the Year' by the readers of Iain Dale's Diary.
Matthew has written three books on public spending: The Bumper Book of Government Waste (co-authored with Lee Rotherham, Harriman House, 2006); The Bumper Book of Government Waste 2008: Brown’s Squandered Billions (co-authored with Lee Rotherham, Harriman Hous, 2007); and The Great European Rip-Off: How the Corrupt, Wasteful EU is Taking Control of Our Lives (co-authored with David Craig, Random House, 2009).
Outside of his work at the TPA, Matthew has visited Azerbaijan (2000), Ukraine (2001) and Serbia (2006) on behalf of the Westminster Foundation. In June 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers & Commerce. Matthew is on the Advisory Council of the European Foundation, Freedom Week and the Young Briton’s Foundation and on the Advisory Committee of the New Culture Forum.
Books
The Bumper Book of Government Waste, Matthew Elliott and Lee Rotherham, Harriman House: 2006
The Bumper Book of Government Waste 2008: Brown’s Squandered Billions, Matthew Elliott and Lee Rotherham, Harriman House: 2007
The Great European Rip-Off: How the Corrupt, Wasteful EU is Taking Control of Our Lives, David Craig and Matthew Elliott, Random House: 2009
Pamphlets
Moving on up: EU tax harmonisation plans, James Barr and Matthew Elliott, European Foundation: October 1998
How cutting corporation tax would boost revenue, Matthew Elliott, Matthew Sinclair & Corin Taylor, September 2008
Interviews
June 2007, ConservativeHome
August 2008, The Independent
March 2008, The BBC
