143. Rachel Davies and Tom Shipley on the UK's new anticorruption strategy

After a three-year gap, the UK finally has a new anti-corruption strategy. To discuss, Robert Barrington is joined by Rachel Davies from Transparency International UK and Tom Shipley from the Centre for the Study of Corruption. They assess what the December 2025 strategy gets right, where it falls short, and whether it will actually make a difference. The discussion examines the strategy's strengths, including new commitments on professional enablers and domestic corruption, alongside notable weaknesses in areas like political integrity and defence procurement. With major tests ahead, the conversation explores whether the UK can credibly claim global leadership on anti-corruption while addressing serious domestic vulnerabilities.

The mentioned papers are linked below:

UK Anti-Corruption Strategy: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-anti-corruption-strategy-2025

Tom Shipley's research paper on international approaches to monitoring anti-corruption programmes: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/international-approaches-to-recording-and-monitoring-corruption

Rachel Davies's blog evaluating the Strategy: https://www.transparency.org.uk/news/strategy-action-what-uks-new-anti-corruption-plan-gets-right-and-where-it-falls-short