AT LABOUR'S 2024 conference in Liverpool, a striking figure could be seen darting between meetings in the rain, pursued by business leaders eager for a word. This was Varun Chandra, prime minister Keir Starmer's newly appointed special adviser on business and investment, already dubbed Downing Street's "business whisperer" for his ability to bridge the worlds of commerce and government.
The son of Indian immigrants, Chandra grew up in South Shields near Newcastle, where his parents' work ethic left an indelible mark, as he revealed in a company podcast. His academic brilliance earned him a place at a selective state school before he went on to study at the University of Oxford.
After a brief stint at Lehman Brothers before its 2008 collapse, Chandra's big break came in his early twenties when he joined Tony Blair's post-premiership organisation. He spent "five and a half years flying around the world meeting presidents, prime ministers, billionaires and people running businesses," as he described it.
In 2014, Chandra joined Hakluyt, the corporate intelligence firm founded by former MI6 officers, rising to become its managing partner by 2019, a role that would made him one of the City's most connected figures.
Hakluyt, often described as a “retirement home for spies,” trades on discretion, offering intelligence and strategic counsel to business leaders navigating geopolitical complexity. Under Chandra’s leadership, the firm began stepping cautiously into the light, advising "around 40 per cent of the world's largest corporations by market capitalisation" and achieving record revenues.
Now at the heart of government, Chandra has already made his mark, sitting in on high-level meetings with figures like JPMorgan's Jamie Dimon.
His working style is marked by discretion and relationship-building. At the Labour conference, he told business leaders behind closed doors that he would try to be their interface with government. While some attendees were impressed by his enthusiasm, they remained "cautious about some of his more dramatic pledges," according to those present.
His appointment follows a tradition of governments bringing in business heavyweights, though it comes with careful arrangements to manage his previous business interests.
He owned stake worth millions in Hakluyt, and while the firm agreed to buy back his shares over time, questions lingered over his ties to its investment arm, Hakluyt Capital. The fund had poured money into AI firms, some of which held significant contracts with the NHS.
Government sources maintained that all declarations had been made, and procedures followed.
Beyond politics, Chandra has been a dedicated philanthropist, serving on the boards of the British Asian Trust, the Royal Academy Trust, and the Young Vic theatre. His tenure at the British Asian Trust coincided with a period of unprecedented growth, with chair Lord Jitesh Gadhia praising his “energy and guidance.”
For Starmer's government, Chandra represents a crucial bridge to the business world at a time of ambitious economic plans. The question now is whether this consummate networker can help transform Labour's business-friendly rhetoric into tangible economic results.
