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Stephen Bush

Columnist and Associate Editor

Stephen Bush is an associate editor and columnist at the Financial Times. He writes a daily newsletter, Inside Politics, charting the course of politics and policy in the United Kingdom, and a wide-ranging weekly column. You can subscribe to Inside Politics here.

Email Stephen Bush @stephenkb  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)
  • Wednesday, 11 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Winners and losers of Labour spending review

    Funding tug of war looms between Treasury and Downing Street as party’s political machinery tightens

    Keir Starmer leaves number 10
  • Tuesday, 10 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Lisa Nandy’s baffling theory for TV success is all stick, no substance

    Culture secretary’s push for greater diversity speaks to Labour’s misguided belief that ‘being nice’ delivers growth

    Lisa Nandy
  • Monday, 9 December, 2024
    UK politics
    Good ideas know no borders

    There is something narrow-minded about criticising a British politician for being ‘America-brained’

    Ewan White illustration of a magician pulling a lightbulb out of a hat
  • Monday, 9 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Civil service reform must tackle pay and promotion

    Frozen public sector wages and tax thresholds create unhelpful incentives, leading to recruitment woes on Whitehall

    Civil servants demonstrate outside the department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and the department of Revenue and Customs in London
  • Friday, 6 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    How Starmer wants to sharpen Whitehall is unclear

    PM speech may herald a Starmerite era of public sector reform mirroring that of Tony Blair, but it faces economic challenges

    Keir Starmer gives a speech at Pinewood Studios
  • Thursday, 5 December, 2024
    Political Fix podcast38 min listen
    Will Starmer’s new milestones become millstones?

    In a live event of the show, the team reviews Labour’s first five months

  • Thursday, 5 December, 2024
    UK politics
    Missing: a clear direction for Starmer

    Labour’s obsession with winning the next election is distorting government

    Illustration of Keir Starmer hanging from the clock of Big Ben, pushing back the minute hand
  • Thursday, 5 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Starmer, it’s all about delivering on those pledges

    Labour’s biggest problem remains its promises on income tax, value added tax and national insurance

    Keir Starmer speaking at a press conference with a ‘5 Missions For A Better Britain’ logo in the background
  • Wednesday, 4 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Wales the happy hunting ground for Reform

    Labour is still likely to hold on to power in the Senedd

    Richard Tice and Nigel Farage
  • Tuesday, 3 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Keir Starmer, the operator, the fixer, not the visionary

    It remains to be seen whether the breadth of the PM’s government is a strength or a weakness

    Keir Starmer
  • Monday, 2 December, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Renationalising England’s rail may not overcome hard realities

    Bringing franchises into public ownership is risky given some routes are just harder to run well and face legacy issues

    A ScotRail train with people walking on the station platform
  • Friday, 29 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Louise Haigh’s damaging exit puts question mark over UK transport agenda

    Plus, Keir Starmer’s immigration cynicism may pay off — or deal an electoral blow

    Keir Starmer gives a press conference
  • Thursday, 28 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    What Kemi Badenoch gets wrong about opposition strategy

    New Tory leader cannot fulfil her immigration pledges without confronting trade-offs on taxes and public services

    Leader of Britain’s opposition Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch
  • Wednesday, 27 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Lib Dems hope party’s rising talent will cement gains

    MP Helen Morgan has become a blueprint for success in garnering local support

    Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey, left, and Helen Morgan arriving for the party’s spring conference in York
  • Tuesday, 26 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Reeves draws line under tax rises, but will Labour’s other pledges survive?

    Labour’s Budget pushed levies on employers to the limit — Trump era may mean preparing households for pain too

    Rachel Reeves
  • Tuesday, 26 November, 2024
    UK politics
    Labour has a classic first act problem

    Everything the government does for the rest of its term will be distorted by its pledges on tax

    Ewan White illustration of Keir Starmer weighing up the scales of justice, with money on the left side and people on the right
  • Monday, 25 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Fraud reshapes UK policy and policing playbook

    Key measures to tackle crime involve private sector taking on greater responsibilities, which bear indirect costs on state

    The city of London
  • Friday, 22 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Streets are safer but our policing is no better

    Yvette Cooper plans reforms to improve performance across England and Wales, urging better government leadership

    A police officer in Westminster
  • Wednesday, 20 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Farmer uproar a consequence of Labour’s high-risk tax pledges

    Farmers’ union and government diverge on scale of impact of Budget changes

    Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, centre, with colleagues Esther McVey, left and Priti Patel, right, gather at a protest by farmers against government changes to inheritance tax rules in London
  • Tuesday, 19 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    How to strengthen government machinery

    Much-needed update of special adviser role must also improve support for opposition parties

    Harold Wilson outside Downing Street in 1966
  • Tuesday, 19 November, 2024
    Social affairs
    The problem of politics in a noisy age

    We are once again having to readjust to a vast expansion in the amount of conflicting information at our fingertips

    Ewan White illustration of rows of printing presses with working people reading. Printed material litters the floor and orange paint from the presses is splashed around the scene.
  • Monday, 18 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Why Labour will struggle to reset the UK-China relationship

    Decisions made in the Sunak and Johnson eras complicate the route forward

    A woman holds a Union flag and a Chinese flag
  • Friday, 15 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    UK ministers admit to Brexit pains, but the relief is on hold

    Pro-Europeans granted opening to campaign on single issues that strengthen UK-EU ties

    A person wears a shirt featuring the union flag, EU stars and the phrase ‘Better Before Brexit’ on the back
  • Thursday, 14 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    Streeting bets on better NHS management but doesn’t go for structural reform

    Labour will keep independent commissioning body NHS England despite large disagreement that the system works

    Wes Streeting and Rachel Reeves visit St George’s hospital
  • Wednesday, 13 November, 2024
    Inside Politics
    UK’s dual motive for higher defence spending raises problems

    Trump era means government has to navigate competing pressures, but it must solve its procurement woes first

    Ajax armoured vehicle
Previous page You are on page 1 Next page

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