Frank Langfitt
Frank Langfitt is NPR's London correspondent. He covers the UK and Ireland, as well as stories elsewhere in Europe.
Langfitt arrived in London in June 2016. A week later, the UK voted for Brexit. He's been busy ever since, covering the most tumultuous period in British politics in decades. Langfitt has reported on everything from Brexit's economic impact, Chinese influence campaigns and terror attacks to the renewed push for Scottish independence, political tensions in Northern Ireland and Megxit. Langfitt has contributed to NPR podcasts, including Consider This, The Indicator from Planet Money, Code Switch and Pop Culture Happy Hour. He also appears on the BBC and PBS Newshour.
Previously, Langfitt spent five years as an NPR correspondent covering China. Based in Shanghai, he drove a free taxi around the city for a series on a changing China as seen through the eyes of ordinary people. As part of the series, Langfitt drove passengers back to the countryside for Chinese New Year and served as a wedding chauffeur. He expanded his reporting into a book, The Shanghai Free Taxi: Journeys with the Hustlers and Rebels of the New China (Public Affairs, Hachette).
While in China, Langfitt also reported on the government's infamous "black jails" — secret detention centers — as well as his own travails taking China's driver's test, which he failed three times.
Before moving to Shanghai, Langfitt was NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi. He reported from Sudan, covered the civil war in Somalia, and interviewed imprisoned Somali pirates, who insisted they were just misunderstood fishermen. During the Arab Spring, Langfitt covered the uprising and crushing of the democracy movement in Bahrain.
Prior to Africa, Langfitt was NPR's labor correspondent based in Washington, DC. He covered coal mine disasters in West Virginia, the 2008 financial crisis and the bankruptcy of General Motors. His story with producer Brian Reed of how GM failed to learn from a joint-venture factory with Toyota was featured on This American Life and has been taught in business schools at Yale, Penn and NYU.
In 2008, Langfitt covered the Beijing Olympics as a member of NPR's team, which won an Edward R. Murrow Award for sports reporting. Langfitt's print and visual journalism have also been honored by the Overseas Press Association and the White House News Photographers Association.
Before coming to NPR, Langfitt spent five years as a correspondent in Beijing for The Baltimore Sun, covering a swath of Asia from East Timor to the Khyber Pass.
Langfitt spent his early years in journalism stringing for the Philadelphia Inquirer and living in Hazard, Kentucky, where he covered the state's Appalachian coalfields for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Prior to becoming a reporter, Langfitt dug latrines in Mexico and drove a taxi in his hometown of Philadelphia. Langfitt is a graduate of Princeton and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard.
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Nine British lawmakers are lining up to replace Boris Johnson, just days after his resignation as the leader of Britain's Conservative party.
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has agreed to resign as leader of the Conservatives, according to British reports. But he could remain in office through at least the summer.
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Two of Britain's most senior Cabinet ministers resigned on Tuesday. Can Prime Minister Boris Johnson survive the latest round of resignations from his Cabinet?
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NATO wrapped up its summit in Madrid with a clear, unified message, but there were unsettling reminders of the brutal road ahead in Ukraine and political turmoil back in the U.S.
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In a last minute deal, Turkey dropped its objections to Finland and Sweden joining the security alliance — all but ensuring NATO's enlargement in the midst of the war in Ukraine.
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NATO grapples with divisions over continuing to arm the Ukrainians while also seeking a negotiated settlement to end a war that is damaging European economies.
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Boris Johnson's time as prime minister has been a rollercoaster. He faces a no-confidence vote mainly over rule-breaking parties in government buildings during COVID-19 lockdowns.
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As Queen Elizabeth II marks 70 years on the throne, many Britons say the monarchy is still relevant in the 21st century, playing a big role in unifying the country.
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Queen Elizabeth II is marking 70 years on the throne, but recent years have been bumpy for the British monarchy. Public support for the institution has fallen, even as the queen remains popular.
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Russians have occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine since the early days of the invasion, and are trying to turn it into a Russian city.