Jason Cowley is an award-winning journalist, magazine editor, commentator and writer.

From 2008 to 2024, he was Editor-in-Chief of the New Statesman, the UK’s leading liberal weekly political magazine founded in 1913. Under his leadership, the NS experienced substantial growth in readership, digital profile and cultural impact, earning him multiple Editor of the Year awards in the politics and current affairs category from the British Society of Magazine Editors. He broadened its politics, championing sceptical, independent journalism beholden to no party or faction.

From 2003 to 2007, he worked for the Observer, the oldest Sunday newspaper in the world, as a magazine editor (The Observer Sport Monthly) and essayist. He then served as Editor of Granta, the literary journal, from 2007 to 2008, before his move to the New Statesman.

His books, essays and journalism primarily centre on the "condition of England", exploring how British identity, politics and social structures have fractured and transformed over recent decades.
His books include The Last Game: Love, Death and Football (Simon & Schuster, 2009), Reaching for Utopia: Essays and Profiles (Salt Publishing, 2018), and Who Are We Now? Stories of Modern England (Picador, 2022). He wrote the introduction to the Macmillan Collector’s Library edition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm (2021). He has written a short book on Clement Attlee to be published in March 2027. 

He writes columns, essays and book reviews for The Sunday Times. He also works as a media and policy strategist and public speaker.