Oliver Shah is an Associate Editor at The Sunday Times. He was named business journalist of the year at the 2017 Press Awards for his investigation into Sir Philip Green’s £1 sale of BHS. Here, he discusses taking on Green and post-financial crash financial reporting.

How did you get started in journalism?

I left university in 2005 and started at a small place called Adfero, which was trying to build a newswire. I went on to work for a few business magazines but I got my first newspaper job at City AM in 2009, after doing a postgrad diploma in journalism at City University.

How did you go about reporting the BHS scandal and what are your views on Sir Philip Green’s handling of the crisis?

My BHS scandal stories started with a lead on Twitter. The reporting followed a similar pattern: I dug deep into the personalities involved and built contacts that last to this day. Green handled the story very badly. He needed to keep a cool head and show some empathy for the BHS pensioners, but he lost his rag and attacked everyone in sight until the pressure forced him to back down.

And your thoughts on him calling you a ‘disgusting individual’?

As I told him at the time, he should have put that energy into considering his own behaviour.

How has city and financial journalism changed in the years after the financial crisis?

I think the crisis made business journalists more critical in general. Until 2007-8, the industry was more focused on getting close to CEOs and powerful people in return for corporate scoops about deals and stock market floats. There’s still some of that around but after the bubble burst, journalists started to ask harder questions.

What are your five desk essentials?

Mobile phone, notepad, pens, tape recorder and lots of tea.