Neil Amin-Smith

Last updated
Neil Amin-Smith
Milan Neil Amin-Smith.jpg
Amin-Smith performing in 2013
Born
Milan Neil Amin-Smith

(1989-11-01) 1 November 1989 (age 35)
NationalityBritish
Education Westminster School
Alma mater Jesus College, Cambridge (BA, MPhil)
Occupation(s) Special Adviser, economist
Musical career
Origin London, England
Genres
InstrumentsViolin, piano
Years active2008–2016
Formerly of Clean Bandit

Milan Neil Amin-Smith (born 1 November 1989) is a British political adviser, economist and musician who currently serves as a senior Special Adviser to Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves.

Contents

Amin-Smith previously co-founded pop group Clean Bandit in 2008; he featured on the band's debut album New Eyes (2014), including the Grammy Award-winning single "Rather Be", which spent four weeks at number one in the UK and sold over 1.1 million copies, before departing the band in 2016.

Early life

Amin-Smith grew up in North London. [1] Along with childhood friend and future bandmate Grace Chatto, he attended Westminster School where he was taught by Sinan Savaskan. [1] He subsequently went up to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he met Jack Patterson, Chatto's boyfriend at the time, and Ssegawa-Ssekintu Kiwanuka, forming Clean Bandit with the three of them and Patterson's brother Luke. [1] Amin-Smith graduated from Cambridge with a BA in History and later an MPhil in Economics in 2013, at which point he turned down job offers from the Foreign Office and MI6 to pursue a musical career with the group. [1]

Musical career

Amin-Smith primarily played violin with Clean Bandit on their debut album New Eyes (2014), which featured the singles "A+E", "Mozart's House", "Dust Clears", "Extraordinary" and "Come Over", as well as the group's breakout single "Rather Be" featuring Jess Glynne, which begins with a violin solo from Amin-Smith; he additionally featured in each single's corresponding music video. [2] Released in January 2014, "Rather Be" spent four weeks at number one in the UK, selling over 1.1 million copies since its release, and later won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. [3] [4] He additionally played violin in Band Aid 30's cover of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in September 2014. [5]

Amin-Smith's final contribution to the band as a regular member came with the single "Tears", released in May 2016. [6] In October that year, he announced he would be leaving the band in a statement on Twitter. [7] [8]

In April 2025, having not recorded with Clean Bandit for nearly nine years, Amin-Smith returned to play violin on the single "Tell Me Where U Go", featuring Tiësto and Leony. [9]

Political career

After leaving Clean Bandit in 2016, Amin-Smith joined the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), an economic think tank, as a research economist. [10] In 2019, he left the IFS to join HM Treasury as a senior policy adviser, before becoming an adviser to Rachel Reeves, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, in 2022. [10] Upon the Labour Party's victory in the 2024 general election, Amin-Smith became a senior Special Adviser to Reeves, now Chancellor of the Exchequer. [10] He was appointed to Reeves' Economic Advisory Council, in charge of policy affecting the City of London. [11] [12]

Amin-Smith's rise to prominence was attributed by Politico in 2024 to his "sharp political acumen" and "keen intelligence", and he was described as "eloquent and personable". [10] In 2025, he topped The Standard's list of "100 Sexiest Londoners", being described as Reeves' "most trusted special advisor". [11]

Personal life

In 2015, Amin-Smith was in a relationship with musician and actor Olly Alexander of Years & Years. [10] [13]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Parrish, Charlie (21 July 2015). "Clean Bandit on Cambridge, being shameless, and turning down MI6" . The Telegraph– via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  2. ↑ "Clean Bandit's Rather Be hits 1 million UK sales!". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 September 2014.
  3. ↑ "GRAMMYS: Clean Bandit's "Rather Be" Wins Best Dance Recording". Headline Planet. 8 February 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
  4. ↑ Copsey, Rob (1 October 2014). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Singles of 2014 so far!". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "Band Aid 30: One Direction among celebrity line-up". Telegraph. 10 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Smith, Carl; Cox, Lizzie (27 May 2016). "The X Factor's Louisa Johnson's first single to be Clean Bandit collaboration 'Tears'". Sugarscape.com . Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Neil Milan on Twitter". Twitter . Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "Clean Bandit announce Neil Amin-Smith's departure from the band". Official Charts Company. 21 October 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  9. ↑ Tell Me Where U Go by Clean Bandit, Tiësto & Leony, Apple Music, 2025-04-11, retrieved 2025-10-21
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "'He's a very, very handsome man': Meet the ex-pop star turning heads in the UK Treasury". POLITICO. 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  11. 1 2 France, Anthony (2025-08-27). "All rise for the sexiest Londoner: Reeves aide Neil Amin-Smith tops 'hot 100' list". The Standard. Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  12. ↑ Partington, Richard (2024-07-11). "Rachel Reeves to announce economic advisory council to boost UK growth". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 2025-10-21.
  13. ↑ "Olly Alexander tells Attitude why he and Neil Milan have called it a day". Attitude.co.uk. 3 December 2015. Archived from the original on 29 August 2018. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
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