From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpull the/somebody’s stringspull the/somebody’s stringsto control something or someone, especially when you are not the person who is supposed to be controlling them It was widely believed that Montagu was secretly pulling the strings behind the prime minister. → pull
Examples from the Corpus
pull the/somebody’s strings• However, I was going to try to pull the right strings.• In his own way, he knew how to pull her strings.• But if he was the puppet, who was pulling the strings and to what dance?• So, when he died, the puppets had no-one to pull their strings anymore.• The scientists pulling his strings are erratic.• Who is really pulling the strings at the White House?• Swindon's John Reynolds the man who pulled the strings for Andre Agassi.• She, who had always pulled the strings, to have found herself in this position. 