Who I Am

I'm Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, one of Britain's leading independent think tanks, and Editor-in-Chief of its CapX website. As of June 2020, I am also a weekly political columnist for The Sunday Times.

My first book was 'The Great Acceleration', a book explaining how and why our lives are getting faster and faster, and what the consequences will be that covers everything from pop music to politics to high-frequency trading.

I've been a commentator and writer for all manner of people, and have significant experience at TV, public speaking, ghost-writing, speechwriting and media consultancy. If you want to get in touch, please use the email below.

What I've Done

I spent the first decade of my career at The Daily Telegraph, ending up as Associate Editor (Comment). During my time at the company I ran the comment department, overseeing its entire opinion output in print and online, as well as working as a columnist, leader writer, science page editor, features editor, news reporter, technology writer and sub-editor.

I then moved to BuzzFeed UK, where I became their first News Director, overseeing their coverage of the 2015 general election campaign as well as the rest of their news output.

After BuzzFeed, I went freelance, writing on politics and technology for a wide variety of publications and publishing my book. I was then approached to run CapX, before taking over its parent body, the Centre for Policy Studies, in the wake of the 2017 election.

During my tenure the CPS has focused primarily on domestic policy, and in particular on the prosperity agenda. It was named by Conservative MPs polled by ComRes as Westminster’s most original think tank, and produced dozens of policies that were taken up by the Tories for their 2019 manifesto - which I took leave to co-author alongside Munira Mirza and Rachel Wolf.

In June 2020 I became a columnist for The Sunday Times, alongside my policy work.

How To Reach Me

The best way to get hold of me is via email at hello@robertcolvile.com. I'm also on Twitter as @rcolvile and can be reached via DM.