City A.M.’s 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 10 years of events that shaped a decade

A crunch, a crash, a coalition… When City A.M. hit the streets in 2005 no one could have predicted what was in store for the Square Mile and the broader UK – and global – economy. Here we revisit a selection of the moments that defined the last 10 years, and remember how they were reported on the front pages of London's business newspaper.

 

2005: The streets of the Square Mile will never be the same again, as thousands of copies of City A.M. are handed out on 5 September to intrigued City workers. Promising "Business with Personality", the paper is an instant hit, and by Christmas over 100,000 commuters have become regular readers.

 

2006: US house prices peak in 2006, before a drop that ultimately triggers the subprime mortgage crisis. Back in Britain, Tony Blair reveals that he will finally step down as PM. On 7 July (see above), London remembers 52 victims who lost their lives in terrorist attacks a year earlier.

 

2007: Shockwaves start to be felt throughout the financial system as a global credit crunch takes hold. In mid-September Northern Rock asks the Bank of England for emergency assistance, prompting the bank's shares to plunge and queues to form outside its branches.

 

2008: The global financial crisis takes hold. In the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are rescued by the government – and just over a week later Lehman Brothers collapses. Merrill Lynch is taken over by Bank of America; Lloyds swallows up HBOS; Bradford & Bingley is nationalised, as the UK government pumps billions into banks.

 

2009: City A.M. celebrates its 1,000th edition on 23 October. Stock markets recover some of their heavy losses, despite the ongoing recession, with traders hoping that the worst of the crash is in the past.

 

2010: The first and only edition of City P.M. is launched on the afternoon of 7 May, the day after an historically tight General Election. With no party winning a majority, leaders of Britain's three largest parties are thrown into crunch talks to find a coalition deal. The following week David Cameron and Nick Clegg hold a friendly press conference during which they promise to lead a "united" Conservative Liberal Democrat coalition government. George Osborne becomes chancellor and in late June holds an emergency Budget during which he announces a rise in VAT and pledges to rein in spending.

 

2011: Attempts to block the development of Broadgate fail in the summer of 2011 – a victory for City A.M.'s campaign, backed by mayor Boris Johnson. The next month the media world is rocked when the News of the World is shut down in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.

 

2012: The euro crisis rears its head again in 2012, despite attempts to keep Greece's government afloat. In February the Eurozone agrees a second bailout for Greece, and later in the year European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi says he will do "whatever it takes" to save the save the single currency.

 

2013: A year in which the world loses two political giants. Baroness Thatcher, Conservative Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, passes away in April. She is honoured at a ceremony at St Paul's Cathedral. In December the South African government announces that Nelson Mandela has died at the age of 95.

 

2014: Mayor Boris Johnson finally confirms that he will stand for election in a bid to return to Westminster. The summer is also marked by worries over deflation in the Eurozone. And City A.M. gets its wish when Scotland votes to remain part of the UK.

 

2015: In the run-up to May's General Election, City A.M. runs a series of comments from leading business figures in which they outline policies that a new government should implement. Polls predict a hung parliament, yet the Conservatives defy expectations by sweeping to power; the SNP hammers Labour north of the border, while the Lib Dems' number of MPs collapses into single figures. The Greek debt crisis rolls on for months before a bailout deal is settled, eventually resulting in PM Alexis Tsipras calling fresh elections. And in August markets are rocked again by extreme volatility in Chinese stocks.