We are thrilled to announce that Mike Shear, one of the great talents and pillars of the Washington bureau, is now a senior U.K. correspondent based in London. In his new role, he will take his boundless curiosity and drive for news across the United Kingdom, reporting on politics and diplomacy but also a wide range of subjects that illuminate British society and culture. And of course we’ll lean on his Washington experience to help readers understand the impact of the Trump administration on the U.K. and the world.
With his usual energy, Mike has already jumped right into some of the International desk’s biggest stories, including the Ukraine talks, the Middle East conflict and the Heathrow shutdown. Mike joins the London bureau chief, Mark Landler, and a growing team of reporters as we sharpen our focus on the U.K., collaborating across desks and departments to strengthen coverage.
“Mike is the full package. He’s smart. He’s curious. He’s open minded. He’s a quick study. He’s eminently fair. He has endless bionic energy,” said chief White House correspondent Peter Baker. “Best of all, he’s an amazing and generous colleague who always has time to help out with a lead, a thorny reporting challenge or a tech issue.”
Mike joined The Times in 2010 and has covered the White House since the beginning of President Obama’s first term. He wrote about the 44th president’s disciplined almond-eating habit, his struggle with the topic of race, and his battles with Congress over immigration.
As a member of The Times’ White House team during President Trump’s first term, Mike was a key player in documenting the president’s attacks on the immigration system, from the chaos of the first travel ban to his suggestion that soldiers shoot migrants in the legs and build a moat. Mike is the co-author of “Border Wars: Inside Trump’s Assault on Immigration,” published in 2019 by Simon & Schuster.
During 2020, Mike was a leading member of the team that won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for coverage of the pandemic. When President Biden took office, Mike led coverage of his leadership style, the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the administration’s approach to Ukraine and Gaza, and the concerns about age that forced him to withdraw his bid for re-election.
Before The Times, Mike spent 18 years at The Washington Post, writing about local communities, school districts, state politics, the 2008 presidential campaign and the White House. He was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the massacre at Virginia Tech. He earned his B.A. in government from Claremont McKenna College and a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.