Authors

Robert Barrington specialises in corruption: where it happens, who does it, the victims of corruption, what you can describe as being corrupt, and what can be done about it. He is a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Corruption based in the University of Sussex. Robert has had a long career in the non-profit sector, punctuated by working undercover in the City, and until recently was the UK head of Transparency International, the world’s foremost anti-corruption NGO. As a campaigner, he helped secure new laws to improve the UK’s anti-corruption architecture, including the Bribery Act and legislation for Unexplained Wealth Orders. Various oligarchs and kleptocrats have offered to take him to court. He advises governments around the world on anti-corruption strategies, and writes and appears regularly in the media.

Robert holds a degree from Oxford University and a PhD from the European University Institute, where he studied the interactions between Renaissance Venice and the court of Henry VIII. His forthcoming book about corruption in Britain, Corrupted Kingdom, will be published by Profile in 2026.

Robert is represented by Charlotte Merritt.