William Nicolas Hutton (born 21 May 1950 in
Woolwich) is a British
political economist, writer, weekly newspaper columnist and former editor-in-chief for
The Observer. He is currently Principal of
Hertford College,
Oxford, and Chair of the Big Innovation Centre, an initiative from
the Work Foundation (formerly the Industrial Society), having been chief executive of the Work Foundation from 2000 to 2008. He is widely known for his advocacy of centre-left policies, criticisms of the neoliberal economic consensus, and his long association with key members and policies of the
Labour Party.