Lionel Barber

He stepped down on 17 January 2020 after 34 years at the title, having served as editor for 14 years. He was succeeded by Roula Khalaf.

In October 2018, he said it was "time for a revolution" at the newspaper after sharing a reader's letter that criticised it for a "lack of diversity" among its columnists.

In 2016, he was made a Chevalier (knight) in the French Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur for his "contribution to high-quality journalism, and the Financial Times' positive role in the European debate".

In July 2012, Barber was accused of intimidating and threatening a member of staff at the Financial Times. Steve Lodge, who worked as a personal finance writer at the newspaper, was brought before a disciplinary panel following an incident in which the Financial Times claimed demonstrated he "had a problem working for women". Barber was accused of "losing his temper and raising his voice" in a manner that breached the newspaper's procedures.

In 2009, Barber was awarded the St George Society medal of honour for his contribution to journalism in the transatlantic community. In February 2011, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees at The Tate. He also serves on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

In November 2005, he was appointed editor of the Financial Times.

Barber has a daughter and a son, born in Washington, D.C. in 1988 and 1990. He lives with them, and his wife Victoria, in London.

Barber's positions at the Financial Times have included Washington correspondent and US editor (1986–1992), Brussels bureau chief (1992–1998), and news editor (1998–2000). He was formerly the editor of the Financial Times Continental European edition (2000–2002), during which he briefed US President George W. Bush ahead of his first trip to Europe.

In 1985, he was the Laurence Stern fellow at The Washington Post. In 1992, he was a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, working under Nelson Polsby at the Institute of Governmental Studies. In 1996, he was a visiting fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence.

In 1981, he was named Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards. In 1998, he was named one of the 101 most influential Europeans by Le Nouvel Observateur.

Barber began his career in journalism in 1978 as a reporter for The Scotsman. In 1981, after being named Young Journalist of the Year in the British Press Awards, he moved to The Sunday Times, where he was a business correspondent. The co-writer of several books, his works includes a history of Reuters news agency (The Price of Truth, 1985) and the Westland affair (Not with Honour, 1986).

Lionel Barber (born 18 January 1955) is an English journalist. He was editor of the Financial Times from November 2005 to January 2020. Earlier in his career, he worked at The Scotsman and The Sunday Times, but was employed in a number of senior posts at the Financial Times from the mid-1980s.

Barber was born on 18 January 1955 to a journalist father. He was educated at Dulwich College, an independent school for boys in Dulwich in South London and at St Edmund Hall, Oxford, graduating in 1978 with a joint honours degree in German and modern history.