Stephen Bush

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Stephen Bush
Stephen Bush at the British Kebab Awards 2019 2 (cropped).jpg
Bush at the British Kebab Awards 2019
Born (1990-03-21) 21 March 1990 (age 34)
NationalityBritish
Education Morpeth School
Alma mater Balliol College, Oxford
Occupation(s)Political editor, journalist
Employer Financial Times

Stephen Kupakwesu Bush is a British journalist. As of February 2022 he is a columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times . He has also written for The Guardian , The Telegraph, i and New Statesman .

Contents

Early life and education

Bush is mixed race with Jewish heritage. [1] He was educated at Morpeth School, a state comprehensive school in Bethnal Green in East End of London, followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford, [2] where he studied history.

At university, he was a member of the Oxford University Labour Club and volunteered for Andy Burnham's unsuccessful campaign to become Labour Party leader in 2010. [3] [4] Bush matriculated in 2008 and graduated in 2011. [5] He supports Arsenal football club. [6]

Career

Bush worked for the magazine Progress (linked to the organisation of the same name) before writing for The Daily Telegraph , including working on the Morning Briefing email as editorial assistant to Benedict Brogan. [7] He joined the New Statesman from the Telegraph in February 2015. [8] [9] Later that year, he was the first political commentator to predict Jeremy Corbyn's election as Labour leader after obtaining leaked internal poll data. [8] [10]

He has appeared on the BBC's current affairs programme Newsnight , commenting on UK politics, [11] and was tipped as an outsider to succeed Nick Robinson as the BBC's political editor in 2015, a position that eventually went to Laura Kuenssberg. [12]

He has written for The Guardian , The Telegraph, i and New Statesman . [13] [14]

From 2016 to 2017, he contributed a weekly column to The Guardian's Lifestyle pages on cooking, called "The Delia Project", where he recounted his efforts to relearn cookery skills using only Delia Smith's Delia's Complete How to Cook. [15]

In December 2018 he was appointed political editor of the New Statesman, while also writing a fortnightly column for the i newspaper. [16] [17] He eventually left the publication in February 2022 to become a columnist and associate editor at the Financial Times , where as of February 2022 he continues to write a morning political briefing email. [18] [19]

Other activities

On 8 June 2020 he was appointed to chair the Board of Deputies of British Jews' Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community. [20] [21] [22] [23] He recommended that the Jewish community adopt a "proactive attitude to inclusion" to draw in "people of all backgrounds who have felt marginalised, left out or turned off from Jewish life". [24] [25]

Awards

In 2015 Bush received a commendation and was runner-up in the Young Journalist of the Year awards category in the Press Awards. [5]

In 2017, he was awarded the Political Studies Association's Journalist of the Year award. [13]

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References

  1. Bush, Stephen (5 April 2018). "This Passover has presented an uneasy dilemma for Britain's left-wing Jews". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 17 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  2. Davis, Rowenna; Vasagar, Jeevan; Meltzer, Tom (12 April 2011). "Oxford University diversity row: 'Grades aren't enough'". The Guardian . Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  3. Stephen Bush at LinkedIn.
  4. Bush, Stephen (30 June 2021). "Andy Burnham: "I'm prepared to go back but as something different"". New Statesman. Retrieved 25 November 2021.
  5. 1 2 "Young Journalist of the Year". Balliol College. 23 March 2016. Archived from the original on 21 April 2017. Retrieved 20 April 2017.
  6. "Stephen Bush | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction". thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  7. "Stephen Bush | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction". thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Stephen Bush appointed New Statesman special correspondent". New Statesman. 4 April 2016. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  9. "New Statesman appoints Stephen Bush as Staggers editor". New Statesman. 4 December 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  10. Bush, Stephen (15 July 2015). "Jeremy Corbyn 'on course to come top' in the Labour leadership election". New Statesman. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  11. "Stephen Bush: The by-elections aren't the end of Corbyn". BBC News. 25 February 2017. Archived from the original on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  12. Steerpike (10 July 2015). "Place your bets! Bookies reveal favourites to be next BBC political editor". The Spectator . Archived from the original on 17 April 2017. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Stephen Bush | The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction". thebailliegiffordprize.co.uk. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  14. "Stephen Bush". New Statesman . Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  15. Bush, Stephen. "The Delia Project". The Guardian . Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  16. Walker, James (10 December 2018). "New Statesman reshuffle sees Stephen Bush appointed political editor". Press Gazette . Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  17. "Stephen Bush". inews.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2023.
  18. Bush, Stephen (16 February 2022). "Diary: My time as the New Statesman's political editor is over, and I'm shaking up a seven-year routine". New Statesman . Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  19. "Financial Times appoints Stephen Bush as columnist and associate editor". Financial Times (Press release). 2 December 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  20. "Board of Deputies to launch 'Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community'". bod.org.uk. Board of Deputies of British Jews. 8 June 2020. Archived from the original on 17 May 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  21. Bush, Stephen (10 June 2020). "The racism I know is when an antisemite sees my skin and thinks I share their repellent views". The Jewish Chronicle . Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  22. Mendel, Jack (10 June 2020). "'Am I black enough to do this? Am I Jewish enough to do this?'". Jewish News . Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  23. Mendel, Jack (10 June 2020). "Commission launched to take evidence of racism experienced by black British Jews". Jewish News. Archived from the original on 11 June 2020. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  24. Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community (22 April 2021). "Report" (PDF). bod.org.uk. Board of Deputies of British Jews. p. 7. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 April 2021. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
  25. "Board of Deputies publishes landmark report on racial inclusivity in the Jewish community". bod.org.uk. Board of Deputies of British Jews. 22 April 2021. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 22 November 2022.