What “Big Sam” could teach the government about Brexit

Matthew Partridge talks to Julian Jessop of think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs about the Brexit negotiations and how Big Sam Allardyce could do a better job.

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Sam Allardyce could do a better job of negotiating Brexit than the current lot
(Image credit: 2014 Getty Images)

This week it was widely announced that the government has agreed in principle to pay a "divorce bill", that could end up being as much as £50bn, to Brussels, in the hope that this will allow trade talks to begin next year. With the crucial EU summit due to begin in less than a fortnight, we've decided to talk to Julian Jessop, chief economist of the free-market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, for his take. Jessop has been following the twists and turns over the Brexit negotiations as the head of the IEA's Brexit Unit.

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri