Stephen Bush

Last updated

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 33)
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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Corbyn</span> UK Leader of the Opposition from 2015 to 2020 (born 1949)

Jeremy Bernard Corbyn is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist. He has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North since 1983. As of October 2020, Corbyn sits in the House of Commons as an independent, following the suspension of the whip.

<i>The Jewish Chronicle</i> London-based Jewish weekly newspaper

The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish weekly newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world. Its editor is Jake Wallis Simons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Freedland</span> British journalist (born 1967)

Jonathan Saul Freedland is a British journalist who writes a weekly column for the Guardian. He presents BBC Radio 4's contemporary history series The Long View. Freedland also writes thrillers, mainly under the pseudonym Sam Bourne, and has written a play, Jews. In Their Own Words, performed in 2022 at the Royal Court Theatre, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawn Butler</span> British Labour politician

Dawn Petula Butler is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent Central since 2015.

Andrew Philip Drummond-Murray, commonly known as Andrew Murray, is a British trade union and Labour Party official and activist. Murray was seconded from Unite the Union to Labour headquarters for the 2017 United Kingdom general election, subsequently becoming an adviser to Jeremy Corbyn from 2018 to 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wes Streeting</span> British Labour politician

Wesley Paul William Streeting is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care since 2021, and Member of Parliament (MP) for Ilford North since 2015.

The Jewish Labour Movement (JLM), known as Poale Zion (Great Britain) from 1903 to 2004, is one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the UK Labour Party. It is a member of the progressive coalition of Avodah/Meretz/Arzenu/Ameinu within the World Zionist Organization. Its sister parties are the Israeli Labor Party (Havodah) and Meretz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Williamson (politician)</span> British politician

Christopher Williamson is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Derby North from 2010 to 2015 and again from 2017 to 2019. He was Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government from October 2010 to October 2013. Williamson was previously a local councillor in Derby, representing the Normanton ward from 1991 until 2011 and serving twice as leader of Derby City Council.

Alex Nunns is a British author, editor and political activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angela Rayner</span> British politician (born 1980)

Angela Rayner is a British politician serving as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party since 2020 and Shadow Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities since 2023. Rayner has been Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashton-under-Lyne since 2015. She ideologically identifies as a socialist and as being part of Labour's soft left.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Smeeth</span> British Labour politician

Ruth Lauren Smeeth, Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-on-Trent North from 2015 until 2019. Since 2022 she has been a member of the House of Lords.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clive Lewis (politician)</span> British Labour politician (born 1971)

Clive Anthony Lewis is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South since the 2015 general election. Lewis was a candidate for Leader of the Labour Party in the 2020 leadership election. He is a member of the Socialist Campaign Group parliamentary caucus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Lansman</span> British political activist (born 1957)

Jonathan Lansman is a British political activist. He is best known for having worked on Jeremy Corbyn's successful 2015 campaign for the leadership of the Labour Party and subsequently founded the pro-Corbyn organisation Momentum. He is a member of the Labour Party's National Executive Committee. Lansman has worked for both Tony Benn and Michael Meacher, and was a prominent supporter of Benn in the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Leonard</span> Former Leader of the Scottish Labour Party

Richard Leonard is a British politician who served as Leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2017 to 2021. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), as one of the additional members for the Central Scotland region, since 2016. He ideologically identifies as a socialist, democrat and internationalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campaign Against Antisemitism</span> British non-governmental organisation

Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) is a British non-governmental organisation established in August 2014 by members of the Anglo-Jewish community. It publishes research, organises rallies and petitions, and conducts litigation.

The Canary is a left-wing news website based in the United Kingdom. While focusing on UK political affairs, it also has a "Global" section, a satire section, and "Science", "Environment", and "Health" sections. Founded in 2015 by Kerry-Anne Mendoza and her wife Nancy Mendoza, the website increased in popularity around the time of the 2017 United Kingdom general election. It was initially funded through a combination of advertising and a group of about 1500 supporters, but by 2020 had moved to a largely reader-funded model.

George Eaton is a British writer and journalist. He is Senior Online Editor of the New Statesman, a position he was appointed to in February 2020. He was previously political editor from 2014 to 2018, joint deputy editor from 2018 to 2019, and an Assistant Editor from 2019 to 2020.

There have been instances of antisemitism within the Labour Party of the United Kingdom (UK) since its establishment. Notable occurrences include canards about "Jewish finance" during the Boer War and antisemitic remarks from leading Labour politician Ernest Bevin. In the 2000s, controversies arose over comments made by Labour politicians regarding an alleged "Jewish lobby", a comparison by London Labour politician Ken Livingstone of a Jewish journalist to a concentration camp guard, and a 2005 Labour attack on Jewish Conservative Party politician Michael Howard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Voice for Labour</span> British political organisation

Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a British organisation formed in 2017 for Jewish members of the Labour Party. Its aims include a commitment "to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism ... to uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities", and "to oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards, or discrimination against, Jews as Jews".

Change UK, founded as The Independent Group (TIG) and later The Independent Group for Change, was a British centrist, pro–European Union political party, which lasted for ten months in 2019. Established in February and formally recognized as a party in May, it was dissolved in December after all its MPs lost their seats at that year's general election. Its principal aim was a second withdrawal referendum on European Union membership, in which it would campaign to remain in the EU. On economic issues it expressed a commitment to the social market economy.

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.