Laura Blumenthal works in communications for a leading UK fintech and hosts a podcast in her spare time. Her career has seen her work in headquarters for well-known brands in telecommunications, retail and banking, where she has experienced everything from corporate crises and global supply chain disruption to major customer innovations.
Alongside her professional career, Laura has been active in politics. She was the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Brentford and Isleworth at the 2024 General Election and previously served for a decade as a councillor in Berkshire, where she led the creation of Wokingham Borough Council’s anti-poverty strategy.
She holds an MSc in International Public Policy from UCL and believes the UK could benefit more from looking at policy ideas which have worked abroad. Laura has soft spots for Japan and Botswana, after successful visits, and aspires to learn more about the routes to success by other countries.
Laura holds the view that many of the challenges facing public services and politics stem from poor communication of ideas and priorities. Through the fellowship, she hopes to explore how the principles of individual responsibility, free markets, low taxation and limited government can be communicated more effectively to the public as the best route to success, peace and prosperity.
Laura created the web resource TorySuccesses to list the biggest improvements the Conservatives made to the country when they were last in power, as well as those stretching back to the nineteenth century.
She enjoys interviewing people across a range of backgrounds on her podcast, Berkshire Heroes. It delves into issues society faces with the most insightful answers often surfacing when Laura asks the question she repeats in every episode: ‘If you were Prime Minister, what would you change about the UK and why?’
