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Philip Stephens is associate editor of the Financial Times and a senior commentator. His column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays.
He joined the newspaper in 1983 and has been the FT’s economics editor, political editor and editor of the UK edition. He is a well-known author, commentator and broadcaster. Before joining the FT he was a correspondent for Reuters in London and Brussels. He is the author of Politics and the Pound (MacMillan), a study of the British government’s exchange rate management and its relations with Europe since 1979, and of Tony Blair (Viking/Politico’s), a biography of the British prime minister.
He was educated at Wimbledon College and at Oxford University, where he took an honours degree in modern history. He is a Fulbright Fellow and winner of the 2002 David Watt Prize for outstanding political journalism.
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Brown limps towards an unhappy ending
For all that he seems to be in plentiful company among Europe’s hobbled leaders, Gordon Brown is in the most serious trouble, as Britain’s Conservatives take shape as a plausible government-in-waiting, says Philip Stephens
Democracy’s tide running against Brown
The local elections were a reminder that the system has checks and balances that militate against one-party rule, writes Philip Stephens
Clever conceits cannot hide the world’s jagged edges
You can always find some analogy or other from the past that can be said to illuminate the here and now. Yet upheavals in the global system since 1989 – the most profound for at least a century – are not susceptible to neatness, writes Philip Stephens
Cameron’s success invites tougher scrutiny
Once people begin to look at the Conservative party as a government-in-waiting, they will be less tolerant of the contradictions, writes Philip Stephens
Hillary Clinton goes nuclear
When I first heard the Democratic contender had promised to annihilate someone, I assumed the chosen target was Barack Obama, writes Philip Stephens. It was obvious she would leave no missile unfired in her quest for nomination. On closer inspection, though, it turned out that this time she was aiming her Minutemen at Iran
Get your retreat in early
As these things go, Gordon Brown’s retreat was at the humiliating end of the scale, but retreat is probably better than defeat
Brown drifts on to the rocks of the surreal
No one would have predicted that within a year Gordon Brown would face a rebellion in his party for punishing the poor. It is beyond surreal that his premiership could be jeopardised by such a charge, writes Philip Stephens
Saviour is symptom of Italy’s ills
Silvio Berlusconi owns three TV stations, two newspapers and a publishing empire. Try to imagine Angela Merkel or Gordon Brown doubling as media tycoons: impossible. It should be impossible in Italy, writes Philip Stephens
Even a slowdown brings some good news
I am not convinced that the turmoil in financial markets will push the world over the edge of the economic precipice, writes Philip Stephens
The fight that calls for something other than a war
Terrorists are not all the same. A gripping account of the talks that brought peace to Northern Ireland begins with a useful caution: the experience gained in persuading the IRA to swap the Armalite for the ballot box should not be applied indiscriminately to other conflicts. Philip Stephens on the lessons for the west’s confrontation with violent Islamism
