By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 16:50 EDT, 11 April 2025 Labour’s light-touch regulation meant Britain, with its free-wheeling City culture, felt the shock waves from the great financial crisis of 2008 more than most. The response of then-prime minister Gordon Brown and an intellectually robust Treasury was impressive. Brown and his …
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By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 16:50 EDT, 6 April 2025 The Trump tariff war is a strong reminder of how critical it is to UK plc to preserve command and control of our economy. The blitz of trade actions from the White House obscured a regulatory filing which will have an impact on …
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By ALEX BRUMMER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Updated: 17:06 EDT, 1 April 2025 The thought of Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds making a deal with the billionaire hyenas in Donald Trump’s trade and economic team will not fill anyone with confidence. The Labour apparatchik tried to explain, on Radio 4, why …
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There are retailers we really want to succeed. Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Boots are in this category, as legacy firms with a strong heritage which fell on hard times. Under the guidance of chairman Archie Norman and, latterly, chief executive Stuart Machin, M&S is turning itself around. Fashion …
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By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 16:54 EST, 28 February 2025 When Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has sorted out his CV and claims to being a solicitor perhaps he might find time to refocus on Royal Mail. Reynolds, the Communication Workers Union and the flaccid board of Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services …
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By ALEX BRUMMER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Updated: 17:01 EST, 17 February 2025 Thames Water will be back in the spotlight today when a court is due to rule on whether an emergency £3billion loan from creditors should be allowed to proceed. An alternative is that the utility company is …
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By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 21:50, 14 February 2025 This week the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave its go-ahead, after nine months of delay, to BlackRock’s £2.6billion purchase of City-based alternative investment platform Preqin. Aside from making its founder, the Suffolk farmer Mike O’Hare, very rich, the deal illustrates the …
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Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds carelessly waving deal through Reynolds, board and CWU cajoled into thinking takeover is a good thing Keir Starmer should intervene before more damage is done to UK plc By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 16:50 EST, 7 February 2025 One cannot but despair of Labour’s dealings with commerce. …
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By ALEX BRUMMER FOR THE DAILY MAIL Updated: 17:01 EST, 30 January 2025 The Ofcom review of Royal Mail focuses on how best to ensure a reliable delivery service for consumers amid the fast-declining volumes of post. The regulator has come down on the side of a less frequent second-class, …
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By ALEX BRUMMER Updated: 16:53 EST, 24 January 2025 The prospect of Jonathan Reynolds extracting a great trade deal for Britain from the White House fills one with gloom. The only decisive words to come from the underwhelming Business Secretary so far are to suggest that the Czech Sphinx Daniel …
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