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    Lionel Barber

    Former Editor

    Lionel Barber is the former editor of the Financial Times. As editor from 2005 until January 2020, Barber helped to transform the FT from a newspaper publisher into a multi-channel global news organisation. During his editorship the FT won many international awards for its journalism.

    Barber has co-written several books and has lectured widely on foreign policy, transatlantic relations and economics. As editor, he interviewed many of the world’s leaders in business and politics, including: US President Barack Obama, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President of Iran Hassan Rouhani.

    Barber began his career in journalism in 1978 as a reporter for The Scotsman. He then moved to The Sunday Times as a business correspondent and joined the FT in 1985 as a business reporter. During his FT career, he has also served as Washington correspondent, Brussels bureau chief, news editor, European editor, US managing editor and the editor.

    Barber serves on the Board of Trustees at the Tate and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He graduated in 1978 from St Edmund Hall, Oxford University with a joint honours degree in German and modern history and speaks fluent French and German.

    @lionelbarber  on Twitter (link opens in a new browser window)

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    • Friday, 17 February, 2023
      Tottenham Hotspur Ltd
      A Spurs takeover would be the final nail in the glory game’s coffin

      English football has become a Wild West of light touch regulation for foreign owners

    • Thursday, 14 July, 2022
      War in Ukraine
      Putin’s stamina for war will test the west’s resolve

      As Russian forces dig in for the winter, governments must up their support

    • Thursday, 19 May, 2022
      ObituaryBanks
      Angus Grossart, merchant banker, 1937-2022

      A financier who made his influence felt in both takeover battles and Scottish cultural life

    • Tuesday, 8 February, 2022
      FT Books Essay
      The BBC at 100 — the past and future of a British institution

      Part broadcasting history, part social history, a new work looks back at the corporation’s idealistic beginnings and traces its development to the crossroads of today

    • Monday, 16 August, 2021
      FT GlobetrotterRide with the FT
      ‘It’s like retreating into your own private world’: Lionel Barber on cycling 

      For the former FT editor, nothing beats taking to two wheels

    • Friday, 23 April, 2021
      ObituaryVartan Gregorian
      Vartan Gregorian, academic and philanthropist, 1934-2021

      The saviour of the New York Public Library passionately believed in the idea of America

    • Monday, 1 February, 2021
      Media
      Former FT editor and BBC chief among investors to buy The New European

      Weekly publication launched after 2016 referendum has been focal point for Brexit resistance

    • Thursday, 5 November, 2020
      ReviewBiography and memoir
      Lionel Barber’s chronicle of his time as FT editor

      The Powerful and the Damned gives an up-close view of the challenges of editing in our age of disruption

    • Wednesday, 28 October, 2020
      ReviewBiography and memoir
      The Man Who Ran Washington — an enthralling biography of James Baker

      A well-sourced life of the ‘Velvet Hammer’ recalls a lost style of US government

    • Friday, 23 October, 2020
      Life & Arts
      Lionel Barber’s diaries — encounters with Merkel, Fuld and a piano-playing Putin

      Exclusive extracts from the memoir of the FT’s former editor — from Tony Blair’s tips to a showdown with Philip Green

    • Thursday, 24 September, 2020
      ObituaryHarold Evans
      Harold Evans, Fleet Street editor, 1928-2020

      A master craftsman who was a pioneer in hard-hitting investigative journalism and fell out with Rupert Murdoch

    • Thursday, 16 January, 2020
      World15 min
      Outgoing FT editor Lionel Barber reflects on how the world has changed during his tenure

      How the global financial crisis, the rise of China and the tech revolution have transformed our lives

    • Thursday, 16 January, 2020
      Angela Merkel
      Transcript: ‘Europe is no longer at the centre of world events’

      Germany’s chancellor on Brexit, Nato and why the west is worth fighting for

    • Wednesday, 15 January, 2020
      News in-depthThe Big Read
      Angela Merkel warns EU: ‘Brexit is a wake-up call’

      In an exclusive FT interview, Germany’s chancellor says the bloc must be more competitive

    • Monday, 13 January, 2020
      InterviewSecurity Service UK
      MI5 chief sees tech as biggest challenge and opportunity

      Machine learning next step in gleaning information, says Andrew Parker as he leaves Security Service

    • Sunday, 12 January, 2020
      Security Service UK
      MI5 head shrugs off risk to intelligence sharing from Huawei links

      UK set to decide on allowing Chinese equipment into 5G network in face of US lobbying

    • Tuesday, 7 January, 2020
      Bank of England
      Central banks running low on ways to fight recession, warns Mark Carney

      Exclusive: Bank of England governor sees threat of ‘liquidity trap’ and need for fresh monetary tools

    • Monday, 9 December, 2019
      FT CollectionsPaul Volcker: his values and legacy
      Paul Volcker, central banker, 1927-2019

      Success at the Federal Reserve laid the groundwork for anti-inflation policies around the world

    • Thursday, 28 November, 2019
      Sustainable capitalism
      Corporations — and capitalism itself — face a fresh crisis

      FT editor Lionel Barber on the need for reform of the economic system

    • Thursday, 21 November, 2019
      FT Appeal for ZSL
      FT editor Lionel Barber introduces our Seasonal Appeal

      This year, we are supporting ZSL, a conservation charity that combats poaching and empowers communities to protect wild animals

    • Tuesday, 12 November, 2019
      Financial Times
      Roula Khalaf to succeed Lionel Barber as Financial Times editor

      Change at top of news organisation to happen in January

    • Monday, 4 November, 2019
      InterviewToshimitsu Motegi
      Japan’s foreign minister sees progress on end to US car tariffs

      Trade deal with Washington a ‘major feat’ despite criticism it favours America

    • Friday, 1 November, 2019
      Life & Arts
      The point of departure: Lionel Barber on Brexit and beyond

      The FT editor on the forces pulling Britain and Europe apart — and why the wrangling may have just begun

    • Friday, 1 November, 2019
      InterviewJapanese politics & policy
      Japan sounds warning on China’s growing military might

      Defence minister Taro Kono says new missile systems have added to ‘global anxiety’

    • Thursday, 3 October, 2019
      Brexit5 min
      Brexit: why Boris Johnson's plan to break the deadlock won't fly

      FT editor Lionel Barber and political commentator Robert Shrimsley on the prime minister's strategy

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