Ex-McKinsey partner Angus Taylor becomes Australian opposition leader
Former McKinsey & Company partner Angus Taylor has ascended the Australian political ranks to become leader of the opposition Liberal party, continuing the firm’s influence in global government.
Long-touted as a future leader, Taylor has taken control of the Australian Liberal party following a spill to oust Susan Ley just nine months into the job. Before entering parliament, Talyor was a partner at McKinsey & Company and director at Port Jackson Partners (now EY-Parthenon).
Other McKinsey alum in Australia’s parliament include colleague Simon Kennedy, Labor housing minister Clare O’Neil, and ‘teal’ independent Allegra Spender, while former health and environment minister and one-time Liberal leadership hopeful Greg Hunt also worked at the firm.
Based on the current political landscape, with Liberal at odds with its Coalition partners and ceding ground to the far right, it’s unlikely Taylor will be voted in as prime minister at the next federal election in 2028, barring some extraordinary event. Things get more interesting from a consulting industry perspective were he to be given a free swing and survive an election loss.
Projecting further into the future, and should Labor also need to reset at some stage, O’Neil has also been described as a potential party leader, setting the stage for a tantalising McKinsey vs McKinsey battle. Assistant science and tech minister Andrew Charlton, who sold his economic consultancy AlphaBeta to Accenture in 2020, likewise has all the hallmarks of a future party leader.
Like Charlton, and former prime minister Tony Abbott, Taylor is University of Sydney economics graduate who attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. Taylor however leans a bit more into his farm-boy background, and has been credited as playing a key role in the formation of New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra during his time at McKinsey, where his brother Charlie was also a partner.
The elite ‘boys club’ and nepotism vibe of past engagements however could come back to bite, now that Taylor has been thrust deeper into the public spotlight. In addition to the well-documented ‘watergate’ and ‘grassgate’ scandals concerning his family-linked businesses, the former Liberal government had a habit of handing out contracts to McKinsey in areas under Taylor’s remit.
As an example, Taylor was energy and emissions reduction minister when the Morrison government wheeled out McKinsey’s widely-ridiculed modelling on net-zero targets, and then with Industry added to his portfolio led the establishment of onshore mRNA vaccination manufacturing, with McKinsey running point and Charlie Taylor previously leading the firm’s healthcare practice.
While not suggesting any impropriety, the links are apparent throughout Taylor’s parliamentary career. The consultancy was also engaged by the CSIRO when Taylor was acting minister for industry, science and technology, while his first senior posting was as assistant minister for cities and digital transformation, with McKinsey later scoring a number of fat contracts from the DTA.
All up, prior to entering politics, Taylor spent seven years at McKinsey till 2001 followed by over a decade at Port Jackson Partners. Meanwhile, one of the major front-bench elevations to Taylor’s new-look shadow ministry in the finance and government services portfolios was Claire Chandler, who previously spent five years at Deloitte before being elected to the senate in 2019.
Should Taylor ultimately convince the electorate and return the Coalition to power, he will emulate current Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who previously spent time in McKinsey’s London office. Another alum, former US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, is said to be weighing up a second presidential run in 2028, while Benjamin Netanyahu once worked at BCG.
