CapX

About CapX

CapX is a centre-right British online newspaper and news aggregator owned by the Centre for Policy Studies, the Westminster think tank. Launched on 21 June 2014, it publishes original commentary and opinion on politics, economics, business and public policy, alongside aggregated news selected from millions of blogs, academic journals and mainstream media sources. Conceived as a commentary outlet to promote democratic capitalism — championing innovation, competition, free trade, good governance and liberty — it has become a prominent platform for pro-market voices in British public debate, with contributors ranging from politicians and campaigners to academics and policy experts.

Founding by the Centre for Policy Studies

CapX was founded by the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) on 21 June 2014 in collaboration with Signal Media, a media technology company. The Centre for Policy Studies, founded in 1974 by Margaret Thatcher, Keith Joseph and Alfred Sherman, is one of Britain's oldest centre-right think tanks, and CapX was conceived as its digital media arm — a way of carrying free-market arguments directly to the public in the internet age. On 28 January 2015, a redesigned site was launched. CPS chairman Lord Saatchi commented on the launch that CapX, "the first global digital think tank, has been designed to show how popular capitalism can work to the benefit of all. We hope it will make a difference." The site was headquartered in Westminster, London, close to the think tank's offices and the centre of British political life.

Mission: Promoting Democratic Capitalism

CapX was launched explicitly as a commentary outlet to promote democratic capitalism and to support innovation, competition, free trade, good governance and liberty. Its editorial stance is centre-right and pro-market: it publishes a spectrum of pro-market authors and argues the case for enterprise, lower taxes, deregulation and open markets. While it is owned by a think tank with deep roots in the Conservative tradition, the site presents itself as a platform for debate within the broad centre-right, featuring contributors who disagree with one another on specifics while sharing a broadly liberal economic outlook. Its daily newsletter, Despatch, curates the best of its articles for subscribers.

The Aggregation Model

Alongside its original content, CapX functions as a news aggregator. Using Signal Media's technology, it aggregates and selects news from some 3.5 million blogs, academic journals and mainstream media sources, surfacing the most relevant pro-market commentary and policy analysis for its readers. This combination of original opinion and curated aggregation was unusual among British political websites at launch: rather than simply publishing its own writers, CapX aimed to be a one-stop destination for centre-right perspectives from across the web. The aggregation is editorially curated rather than purely algorithmic, with the site's editors selecting the pieces that best serve its readership.

Contributors and Columnists

CapX has featured columns and contributions from a wide range of public figures. Early contributors included Tim Montgomerie, the founder of ConservativeHome; Daniel Hannan, the former MEP and prominent Brexiteer; and the Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. The site has carried regular columns by Iain Martin and contributions from politicians, campaigners, academics and policy experts. Specialist contributors have included the Indian economist Deepak Lal and the Islamic economics specialist Benedikt Koehler, alongside figures such as Philippe Legrain and Paul Collier. The breadth of its contributor base reflects its ambition to be the natural home for pro-market commentary in Britain, drawing on voices from Westminster, the City, academia and the think-tank world.

Editorial Leadership

CapX's key editorial figures have included Robert Colvile as editor-in-chief and Marc Sidwell as editor. Colvile, a former Telegraph journalist and CPS director, has shaped the site's voice as a combative but intellectually serious defender of capitalism. Sidwell, as editor, has overseen the site's daily output and its newsletter operation. The editorial team has also developed the site's multimedia presence, including The Capitalist podcast, which features interviews with economists, politicians and commentators on the pressing economic questions of the day — from Britain's debt burden and growth prospects to the future of capitalism itself.

Coverage and Campaigns

CapX's coverage spans domestic politics, the economy, business, technology, culture and international affairs, always with a pro-market lens. It has been a consistent advocate of Brexit-era arguments for free trade and regulatory divergence, a critic of high taxation and public spending, and a champion of enterprise and entrepreneurship. The site regularly publishes data-driven analysis of economic policy, interviews with leading economic thinkers and polemics against what it sees as the failures of state intervention. During the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic aftermath, CapX argued the case for rapid reopening, fiscal restraint and supply-side reform, warning against the permanent expansion of the state that emergency measures risked entrenching. Its commentators have also engaged in cultural debates, including the site's distinctive attempt to make a feminist case for capitalism — arguing that the ability to earn and keep money has historically been the most reliable route to female autonomy. CapX writers have been prominent voices in debates over net zero costs, housing supply, planning reform and the regulation of technology companies, consistently pressing the argument that markets, properly framed by the rule of law, deliver better outcomes than bureaucratic direction.

Relationship with the Centre for Policy Studies

As the media arm of the Centre for Policy Studies, CapX benefits from the think tank's research, events and network of policymakers, while giving the CPS's ideas a daily public platform beyond its traditional reports and pamphlets. The relationship is symbiotic: CPS research frequently forms the basis of CapX articles and interviews, while CapX's commentators amplify the think tank's campaigns on tax reform, housing, energy and public services. The site is editorially distinct from the think tank's formal publications, with its own editors and a faster, more journalistic tempo, but it shares the CPS's underlying philosophy of popular capitalism.

Podcasts and Multimedia

CapX has expanded beyond text into audio and video, developing a multimedia presence to carry its pro-market arguments to new audiences. Its podcast, The Capitalist, features long-form interviews with economists, politicians, business leaders and commentators on the economic questions of the day. Recent episodes have tackled subjects such as whether Britain is heading for a financial crisis, the lessons of the 1976 IMF crisis, the case for deregulation and the intellectual battle over national conservatism. The podcast's Despatch strand brings listeners the best articles from CapX's daily newsletter in audio form. The site also publishes video interviews and event recordings, often drawing on the Centre for Policy Studies' programme of lectures and panel discussions. This multimedia strategy reflects the site's recognition that political argument increasingly happens in audio and video formats, and that a think-tank media operation must meet its audience where it listens. The Capitalist has featured guests including CPS directors, MPs, economists and journalists, and it serves as a shop window for the broader output of the Centre for Policy Studies.

Place in the Media Landscape

CapX occupies a distinctive position in British digital media: a think-tank-owned online newspaper that competes for attention with both traditional comment pages and newer digital outlets. It is part of a wider ecosystem of centre-right digital media that includes sites such as ConservativeHome, Guido Fawkes and The Spectator's online operation, but it differentiates itself through its think-tank pedigree, its aggregation technology and its explicitly economic focus. For readers seeking pro-market analysis of British politics and public policy, CapX remains one of the most substantial and consistently updated sources — a daily argument for capitalism in an era when, its editors believe, capitalism's case needs constantly to be remade.