London’s Lady Mayor warns of fractured world order as London urged to sell its strengths

The Lady Mayor of London, Dame Susan Langley, has warned that a rapidly shifting global landscape is reshaping trade, alliances and the future of the City, as she urged businesses to speak more confidently about the UK’s strengths and counter what she described as growing disinformation about the capital.

Speaking at the opening session of the AIRMIC Risk Forum in London, Dame Susan said that she had concluded that “the old world order, you know, widely respected rules, stability, cooperation is… changing. And in many areas, it’s just gone.” She added that this was testing “the durability of our alliances” and driving firms to rethink how they choose partners and supply chains. Decisions were no longer based on cost alone, she said, but on “trust, friendship, common values” and whether partners would “still be there in three years”.

Geopolitical risk, she told listeners, had become the overriding concern in boardrooms. Citing recent findings from EY, she noted that “80% of businesses are investing now because of geopolitical risk rather than anything else”, calling it “the absolute top of the agenda”.

Despite that uncertainty, Dame Susan said overseas sentiment towards the UK was far more upbeat than domestic perceptions. She recounted being told in the US and in Dubai that Britain had “the talent, the ecosystem, the rule of law, education, the time zone, the liquidity”, and questioned why Britons were “so hard on ourselves”. She suggested that culturally the country was better at highlighting weaknesses than “shouting what we are good at”, arguing that it was time to be “far less British, far more Tigger and Eeyore and start being positive about our business”.

She also raised concerns about what she called an “active disinformation campaign” portraying London as unsafe, recounting stories of executives fearful of visiting and contacts in Singapore hearing similar claims. While she said it had not yet affected investment, she warned it posed a real risk when combined with “us talking the economy and our sector down, not up”.

To showcase the capital’s strengths, Dame Susan announced the launch of a Global Risk Summit on 12 May, which she hopes will grow into a week of events encouraging international visitors to return to London. She challenged those present to help craft “three or four key pitch lines” and to highlight “the depth of our knowledge”.

Turning to technology, she echoed a remark by Canadian PM Mark Carney that “nostalgia is not a strategy”, arguing that London’s success had always rested on its ability to “reimagine itself, reinvent itself”. Artificial intelligence, she suggested, felt like “the beginning of the new industrial revolution”, presenting profound strategic questions for insurers and financial firms alike.

Concluding, Dame Susan said that after 25 years in insurance she believed the sector was facing its most pivotal moment yet. “We do adapt, we adapt to risk, and we step up and change,” she said, but warned that with conditions shifting daily the market would need to be “most flexible, most agile” to remain competitive.

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