{
  "id": 15093484,
  "title": "Ex-UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cites Lee Kuan Yew's 'poisonous shrimp' quotation during global power debate",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/17/ex-uk-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-cites-lee-kuan-yews-poisonous-shrimp",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-17T00:00:55.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Independent Singapore",
    "slug": "the-independent-singapore",
    "url": "https://theindependent.sg/ex-uk-prime-minister-rishi-sunak-cites-lee-kuan-yew-s-poisonous-shrimp-quotation-during-global-power-debate"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, India, former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak referenced Singapore's founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew's 1966 speech, where Lee had delivered a metaphorical warning about the \"poisonous shrimp\" phenomenon. Sunak argued that middle powers, those with significant global influence but below great powers like the US, China, Russia, and the UK, should utilize economic leverage to avoid being marginalized. He pointed out that these countries, despite their limited scope, can become indispensable to other nations by controlling a key industry segment. Sunak quoted Lee Kuan Yew as suggesting that Singapore must transform into a \"poisonous shrimp\" in today's world, meaning it should possess such economic leverage that others would rely on it. This quote, originally delivered by Lee at the University of Singapore, highlights the importance of economic self-sufficiency for smaller nations.",
  "summary": "At the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in New Delhi, India, earlier this week, former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak quoted Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, mentioning the “poisonous shrimp” metaphor from a speech Mr Lee had delivered in 1966, the year after the city-state became Independent. Mr Sunak said that the so-called middle powers should build strategic economic leverage…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}