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Robert Shrimsley

Robert Shrimsley

Financial Times

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Murdoch’s money protects him even from princes

The media tycoon is happy to spend to contain a scandal — including in his legal battle with a British royal

23.01.2025 9

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Ask not what your government can do for you

The instinct to over-intervene runs across the political spectrum

16.01.2025 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Musk’s grooming onslaught shows politics needs a new playbook

Online distortions obscure the true nature of public outrage — democracies must adapt to the age of X

09.01.2025 10

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Time for Keir Starmer to remember he is first lord of the Treasury

With growth at the heart of his policy platform, the prime minister is remarkably passive on the economy

19.12.2024 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Keir Starmer and the Cummings consensus

The Tories fell short of their rhetoric — if the PM is following their path, he needs to learn why reform has failed in the past

12.12.2024 8

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Donald Trump, the final facilitator of Brexit

Britain must relearn the art of the deal or risks being buffeted by big power politics

14.11.2024 10

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Goodbye to low-tax Britain

One does not need to subscribe to hyperbolic Tory rhetoric to recognise that this Budget heralded a major shift

30.10.2024 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Reeves should embrace the freedom of disapproval

The UK chancellor and PM Keir Starmer need to dispense with the excessive caution of opposition

25.10.2024 3

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Why Tory leaders win the diversity challenge

The party’s recent record shows that Badenoch’s ascent to leadership favourite is no accident

17.10.2024 20

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

The battle of Labour’s three brains

Tensions between the priorities of working people and progressive supporters are now complicated by the Treasury

10.10.2024 8

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

The new Conservative class war

Badenoch’s attack on an overweening state seeks to imitate Thatcher’s case against the overmighty trade unions

03.10.2024 5

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

The British state is not fit for Starmer’s purpose

Labour ministers find that their newly active government stands on atrophying limbs

26.09.2024 10

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

The new race for political space

Westminster’s duopoly of Labour and Conservatives has never looked more vulnerable

18.09.2024 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Labour needs Reeves to be an imperial chancellor

She already has a political empire, but she must command it — and neutralise damage from the government’s early mistakes

11.09.2024 2

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Conservatives need a leader who can battle irrelevance

The contest to head up the defeated party must establish the Tories as the only serious opposition

04.09.2024 3

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Why Starmer can’t escape the politics of performance

The lack of a world-class communicator poses real risks for Labour

28.08.2024 30

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Starmer’s trade union summer of love will soon sour

Public service reforms to both rail and health are coming swiftly down the track

21.08.2024 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

UK needs no lessons from apologists for rioters

The historic mission of mainstream politics is to listen to the real communities, not their malign mouthpieces

14.08.2024 1

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

Rachel Reeves and the limits of clever politics

The chancellor’s scrapping of social care plans shows how short-term tactics continue to let down the UK

31.07.2024 4

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley

When five go mad on the motorways

Stiff sentences for climate activists underscore the crucial distinction between protest and disruption

24.07.2024 6

Financial Times

Robert Shrimsley