W H Allen scoops ex-FT editor Barber's diaries

W H Allen has scooped the diaries of former Financial Times editor Lionel Barber, offering portraits of global figures such as Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin.

The Powerful and the Damned: Private Diaries in Turbulent Times will be released on 5th November 2020 in hardback, e-book and audio. Ebury m.d. Joel Rickett and editorial director Jamie Joseph acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caroline Michel at PFD.

According to the publisher: “The Powerful and the Damned is both a no-holds barred account of life behind the headlines, and a riveting portrait of power in times of crisis. At the helm of the most important business newspaper in the world, Barber documented the tech boom, the financial crisis, the rise of China, Brexit, populism and the rise of fake news.

“His diaries offer a rare and intimate portrait of the people who quite literally make the news – Obama, Trump, Cameron, Blair, Putin, Merkel, May, Mohammed Bin Salman and the Royal Family as well as many more movers and shakers in the business and financial world.”

Barber, who stood down as FT editor in January after 15 years, said: “I was a privileged interlocutor to people in power, each offering unique insights into high-level decision-making and political calculation, often in moments of crisis. These diaries offer snapshots of leadership in an age of upheaval. I’m delighted to have W H Allen publishing the book.”

Rickett added: “Lionel Barber is simply the most successful and most trusted editor of our times; his diaries will be essential reading for anyone interested in business, politics and the media. Full of new stories, they cumulatively form an absorbing, at times scathing portrait of power: who has it, what it takes, and what drives the men and women with the world at their feet.”