Owen Jones (writer)

Early life

Jones was born in Sheffield and grew up in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and briefly in Falkirk, Scotland. His father was a local authority worker and trade-union shop steward, and his mother is an IT lecturer at Salford University. He describes himself as a "fourth-generation socialist"; his grandfather was involved with the Communist Party and his parents met as members of the Trotskyist Militant tendency.

He attended Bramhall High School and Ridge Danyers Sixth Form College before studying history at University College, Oxford, graduating with a BA in 2005 and a Master of Studies (MSt) in US history in 2007.

Before entering journalism, Jones worked as a trade-union lobbyist and was a parliamentary researcher for the left-wing Labour politician John McDonnell, then a backbencher, who became Shadow Chancellor in 2015.

Columnist, broadcaster and writer

Jones is a weekly columnist for The Guardian after switching from The Independent in March 2014. His work has appeared in the New Statesman, the Sunday Mirror, Le Monde diplomatique and several smaller publications. He has made television appearances as a political commentator, including several BBC News shows, Sky News, Channel 4 News, ITV's Daybreak and BBC One's Question Time programme.

Jones writes from a left-wing perspective; Andrew Neather has cited his Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class as a contributory factor in a resurgence of left-wing-themed ideas. He is a member of the National Advisory Panel for the Centre for Labour and Social Studies, a left-wing think tank.

Jones is a feminist, a republican and a supporter of Unite Against Fascism (UAF), speaking at conferences organised by them.

In 2011, Jones' first book, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, he discusses stereotypes of sections of the British working class and the use of the pejorative term "chav". The book received attention in domestic and international media and was selected by critic Dwight Garner of The New York Times as one of his top 10 non-fiction books of 2011 in the paper's Holiday Gift Guide and was long-listed for the Guardian First Book Award.

The Independent on Sunday named Jones as one of its top 50 Britons of 2011, for the manner in which his book raised the profile of class-based issues. Jones' second book, The Establishment: And How They Get Away With It, was published in September 2014.

Jones has received attention as a significant commentator of the left, with The Daily Telegraph placing him 7th in its 2013 list of Britain's most influential left-wingers.

In February 2013 when Jones was awarded the Young Writer of the Year prize at the Political Book Award, he donated half the prize money to support the campaign of Lisa Forbes, a Labour parliamentary candidate, and the other half to Disabled People Against Cuts.

In an interview with The Student Journals, Jones commented that several people have accused him of using politics only as a tool to raise his own profile and that he risks being seen as a "lefty rent-a-gob".

Jones spoke at a press conference to launch the People's Assembly Against Austerity on 26 March 2013 and regional public meetings in the lead-up to a national meeting at Central Hall Westminster on 22 June 2013. In November 2013 he delivered the Royal Television Society's Huw Wheldon Memorial Lecture, Totally Shameless: How TV Portrays the Working Class.

Political opinions

Shortly after the publication of his first book, Jones asserted that he "was one of the few commentators" during the 2011 England riots who was "asked to challenge the dominant narrative that this was mindless criminality, end of story", and criticised how the aftermath was used to demonise working-class youth unjustly. Jones said that he believed the riots were being "manipulated by the government."

In August 2012, Jones criticised American exceptionalism and U.S. military power in an article for The Independent. In 2017 he also criticised what he described as the United States' interference in the internal affairs of foreign countries, juxtaposing it with Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Jones is gay, often writing about LGBT issues such as homophobia. He has also discussed sexism, and has rejected identity politics. Jones strongly opposes gay conversion therapy, he considers it, pseudoscience, abusive and psychologically damaging.

In November 2012, Jones was awarded Journalist of the Year at the Stonewall Awards, along with Times journalist Hugo Rifkind.

Jones has written several articles defending Muslims and attacking the rise of Islamophobia, which he has called a "poison". He is a critic of the government's Prevent strategy to combat Islamic extremism in schools and has cited Western foreign policy as one of "a number of factors" responsible for increasing radicalisation within the Muslim population.

Jones is also a critic of British involvement in the Saudi Arabian-led military intervention in Yemen.

In several articles, Jones praised Hugo Chávez, then President of Venezuela, and rejected claims that he had been a dictator.

With regard to the European Union, Jones has expressed euroscepticism and called for British withdrawal.

However, in the 2016 referendum on EU membership, he supported Another Europe is Possible's "radical 'in' campaign".

Jones is a supporter of a United Ireland, and spoke at the Sinn Féin Summer School in Baile Bhúirne, West Cork, in July 2015.

In August 2015, Jones endorsed Jeremy Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election. He wrote: "As one of the only people with a media platform who isn't hostile to Jeremy — let alone supportive! — I'm pretty much duty-bound to be helpful and rebut the stuff thrown at the campaign as best I can." He supported Corbyn's first Labour leadership campaign in 2015.

In July 2016, he endorsed Corbyn's campaign in the Labour Party leadership election.

Jones was described as a staunch critic of Donald Trump during his campaign for presidency of the United States in 2016. Despite Trump's victory, Jones claims that "the left is stronger than it has been for decades" in the United States due to Trump's failure to win the popular vote, low approval ratings and the Republican Party being "riven by divisions".