Lord Jim Knight

Jim Knight is the Managing Director of Online Learning at TSL Education Ltd, a member of the House of Lords and a Visiting Professor at the London Knowledge Lab of the Institute of Education. He is currently building an online professional development platform for teachers to support each other in developing their practice.

Jim Knight’s main policy interests are education, employment, skills and digital technology. He was the longest-serving Schools Minister in the UK government led by Tony Blair and Gordon Brown; he also served as Rural Affairs Minister and Employment Minister. He attended weekly Cabinet meetings in the year running up to the 2010 General Election, and joined the Lords after that election. Having co-ordinated Ed Balls’ Leadership Campaign, he served as Shadow Department for Work and Pensions Minister and Shadow Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Minister in the House of Lords until 2014. 

As a commercial consultant, he has worked with TSL Education, Apple, Smart Technologies, EC Harris LLP, and Alderwood Recruitment. He is a co-owner of eCan/ianXen, a developer of malaria diagnosis using iPhones and solar-powered digital projectors for wireless use with iPads without mains electricity in schools in Africa and Asia. He is Chair of the Tinder Foundation and HTI Education Trust, Deputy Chair of the Nominet Trust and a Trustee of Apps for Good.