Robert Peston (born 25 April 1960) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
. Since February 2006, he has been the Business Editor for
BBC NewsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
. He became known to a wider public with his reporting of the
financial crisis of 2007–2009The financial crisis of 2007–2009 has been called the worst financial crisis since the one related to the Great Depression by leading economists, and it contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U.S. dollars, substantial financial...
, especially with his scoop on
the Northern Rock crisisIn 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British Government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis....
.
Peston is the son of
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and later
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
peerIn the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
Maurice PestonMaurice Harry Peston, Baron Peston of Mile End , is an English economist and parliamentarian. His research interests include macroeconomic policy and the economics of education.-Personal:...
and his
NHSThe National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
-employee wife. The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent Robert to the local
comprehensive schoolA comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. The term is commonly used in relation to the United Kingdom, where comprehensive schools were introduced in the late 1940s to the early 1970s. It corresponds broadly to the...
,
Highgate Wood Secondary SchoolHighgate Wood School and Performing Arts College is a secondary school located in Crouch End in the North London borough of Haringey. It accommodates pupils aged 11-16, providing secondary education to 1368 pupils. The school works together with Hornsey School for Girls for sixth form...
, in
Crouch EndCrouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west....
,
North LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes.-Boundary Commission:At its widest extent, North London is the part of Greater London that is north of the River Thames...
. Peston graduated from
Balliol CollegeBalliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.Traditionally, the undergraduates are amongst the most politically active in the university, and the college's alumni include three former prime ministers. H. H...
,
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
in 1982, and then studied at the
Université Libre de BruxellesThe Université Libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has about 20,000 students. It was ranked 54th worldwide in the THES 2004 but only 183rd in 2008...
after winning a scholarship.
Peston briefly worked at stockbroker Williams de Broë, before he became a journalist in 1983 for the
Investors ChronicleThe Investors Chronicle is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the Financial Times Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such as takeovers and share issues...
and joining
The IndependentThe Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National...
newspaper for its launch in 1986.
Robert Peston (born 25 April 1960) is a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
. Since February 2006, he has been the Business Editor for
BBC NewsBBC News, formerly BBC News and Current Affairs, is the department within the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the corporation's news-gathering and production of news programmes on BBC television, radio and online....
. He became known to a wider public with his reporting of the
financial crisis of 2007–2009The financial crisis of 2007–2009 has been called the worst financial crisis since the one related to the Great Depression by leading economists, and it contributed to the failure of key businesses, declines in consumer wealth estimated in the trillions of U.S. dollars, substantial financial...
, especially with his scoop on
the Northern Rock crisisIn 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British Government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis....
.
Early life and education
Peston is the son of
economistAn economist is an expert in the social science of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy...
and later
LabourThe Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Founded at the start of the 20th century, it has been seen since 1920 as the principal party of the Left in England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where it has only recently begun to organise again...
peerIn the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles may not be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
Maurice PestonMaurice Harry Peston, Baron Peston of Mile End , is an English economist and parliamentarian. His research interests include macroeconomic policy and the economics of education.-Personal:...
and his
NHSThe National Health Service is the name commonly used to refer to the publicly-funded health care services in Great Britain. In England the name National Health Service is used without further qualification whereas the services in Scotland and Wales are known as NHS Scotland and NHS Wales...
-employee wife. The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent Robert to the local
comprehensive schoolA comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. The term is commonly used in relation to the United Kingdom, where comprehensive schools were introduced in the late 1940s to the early 1970s. It corresponds broadly to the...
,
Highgate Wood Secondary SchoolHighgate Wood School and Performing Arts College is a secondary school located in Crouch End in the North London borough of Haringey. It accommodates pupils aged 11-16, providing secondary education to 1368 pupils. The school works together with Hornsey School for Girls for sixth form...
, in
Crouch EndCrouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west....
,
North LondonNorth London is the northern part of London, England. The area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes.-Boundary Commission:At its widest extent, North London is the part of Greater London that is north of the River Thames...
. Peston graduated from
Balliol CollegeBalliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.Traditionally, the undergraduates are amongst the most politically active in the university, and the college's alumni include three former prime ministers. H. H...
,
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
in 1982, and then studied at the
Université Libre de BruxellesThe Université Libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has about 20,000 students. It was ranked 54th worldwide in the THES 2004 but only 183rd in 2008...
after winning a scholarship.
Career
Peston briefly worked at stockbroker Williams de Broë, before he became a journalist in 1983 for the
Investors ChronicleThe Investors Chronicle is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the Financial Times Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such as takeovers and share issues...
and joining
The IndependentThe Independent is a British newspaper published by Tony O'Reilly's Independent News & Media. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily newspapers. The daily edition was named National...
newspaper for its launch in 1986. From 1989 to 1990 Peston worked for the short-lived
Sunday CorrespondentThe Sunday Correspondent was a shortlived British weekly national broadsheet newspaper. Launched on 17 September 1989, it ceased publication on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole....
newspaper as Deputy City Editor, before being appointed City Editor of the
Independent on Sunday in 1990.
From 1991 to 2000, he worked for the
Financial TimesThe Financial Times is a British international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and is printed at 22 sites...
. At the FT, he was - at various times - Political Editor, Banking Editor and head of an investigations unit (which he founded). During his time as Political Editor he memorably fell out with the then Downing Street Press Secretary
Alastair CampbellAlastair John Campbell served as Director of Communications and Strategy for the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2003...
who regularly mimicked Peston's habit of flicking back his hair and once responded to a difficult question with the words: "Another question from the Peston school of smartarse journalism." His last position at the FT was Financial Editor (in charge of business and financial coverage).
In 2000, he became editorial director of the online financial analysis service Quest, owned by the financial firm, Collins Stewart. At the same time, he became a contributing editor of
The SpectatorThe Spectator is a weekly Britishmagazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by the Barclay brothers, who also own The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
and a weekly columnist for the
Daily Telegraph In 2001 he switched allegiance from the
Telegraph to the
Sunday Times, where he wrote a weekly business profile, Peston's People, and left
The Spectator for the
New StatesmanThe New Statesman is a British left-wing political magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, where he wrote a weekly column.
In 2002 he joined
The Sunday Telegraph as City editor and assistant editor. He became associate editor in 2005.
In late 2005, it was announced that Peston would succeed Jeff Randall as BBC Business Editor, responsible for business and city coverage on the corporation's flagship TV and radio news programmes, the BBC News Channel, its
websiteBBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
and on
Radio 4'sBBC Radio 4 is a domestic UK radio station that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967.-Outline:...
TodayToday, sometimes referred to as the Today programme to avoid ambiguity, is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, which is now broadcast from 6am to 9am from Monday to Friday and from 7am to 9am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and...
.
On 4 February 2009, Peston appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, along with
Alex BrummerAlex Brummer is a veteran economic commentator, working as a British journalist, editor, and author...
(City Editor,
Daily MailThe Daily Mail is a British daily tabloid newspaper. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper, The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982. Scottish and Irish editions of the paper were launched in...
),
Lionel BarberLionel Barber is an English journalist.Barber was appointed Editor of the Financial Times in November 2005. Previously, he was the Financial Times' U.S. Managing Editor and before that, Editor of the FT's Continental European edition , during which he briefed US President George W. Bush ahead of...
(Editor of
Financial TimesThe Financial Times is a British international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and is printed at 22 sites...
),
Simon JenkinsSir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist currently associated with The Guardian after fifteen years with News International titles...
(
Guardian), and Sky News Business Editor
Jeff RandallJeff William Randall is an award-winning journalist, who presents Jeff Randall Live, a business and politics show on Sky News...
to answer questions on the role of the media in financial stability and "whether financial journalists should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises".
On 28 August 2009, Peston had a highly publicised row with
James MurdochJames Murdoch is the son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch presently Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corporation, Europe and Asia, overseeing assets such as News International , SKY Italia , and STAR TV .At News Corporation, he sits on the Board of Directors and is a member...
, following the latter's MacTaggart lecture.
Possible Serious Fraud Office probe
It was announced on 19 October 2008 that the
Serious Fraud OfficeThe Serious Fraud Office may refer to:*Serious Fraud Office *Serious Fraud Office...
may launch a probe into the source of one of Peston's scoops. One, broken in September in the fraught atmosphere of the Global financial crisis of 2008, revealed that merger talks between
HBOSHBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
and
Lloyds TSBIn January 2009, Lloyds TSB Group changed its name to Lloyds Banking Group. This article is now about the brand Lloyds TSB which is still operated as part of the Lloyds Banking Group....
were at an advanced stage. In the minutes before the broadcast, buyers purchased millions of HBOS shares at the deflated price of 96p; in the hour following it, they could be sold for 215p.
Awards
Peston is a past winner of the Harold Wincott Senior Financial Journalist of the Year Award (2005), the London Press Club's Scoop of the Year Award (2005),
Granada TelevisionGranada Television is the United Kingdom ITV contractor for North West England and the Isle of Man.It is the only one of the original four ITA franchisees from 1954 that survived as a franchise holder into the twenty-first century. Broadcasting began on 3 May 1956, with the company originally...
's
What the Papers SayWhat The Papers Say was the second longest-running programme on British television after The Sky at Night. The programme discussed, often with humour , how different newspapers had covered the previous week's main news stories.-Format:The format, consisting of readings from the previous week's...
award for Investigative Journalist of the Year (1994) and the Wincott Young Financial Journalist of the Year (1986).
At the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Awards 2007/08 Peston won both "Specialist Journalist of the Year" and "Television Journalist of the Year" for his coverage of the credit crunch and a string of 'scoops' associated with it. He was also voted Best Performer in a Non-Acting Role in the Broadcasting Press Guild's 2009 awards and Business Journalist of the Year in the London Press Club's 2009 awards.
In 2007, Peston's scoop on Northern Rock seeking emergency financial help from the Bank of England won the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Award for Scoop of the Year and the Wincott Award for Business News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year. He was Journalist of the Year in the Business Journalism of the Year Awards for 2007/08, and also won in the Scoop category.
Peston won the
Work FoundationThe Work Foundation is a British not-for-profit foundation that provides Consultancy and Research to the UK business, governmental and not-for-profit community. It concentrates on improving both economic performance and quality of working life. It is based in London and has 60 staff...
's Broadcast News Journalism Award and the Foundation's Radio Programme of the Year Award (for his
File on 4File on 4 is a current-affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is produced in Manchester by the BBC's Radio Current Affairs department, and has won more than 40 awards.- External links :* *...
, "The Inside Story of Northern Rock"). His blog won the digital media category in the Private Equity and Venture Capital Journalist of the Year Awards.
Delivery style
In spite of his accolades, the transition from print media has been difficult for Peston, and his curious delivery on radio and television news has attracted criticism from diverse sources.
The TimesThe Times is a daily national newspaper published in the United Kingdom since 1785 when it was known as The Daily Universal Register....
, for example, brands his style "ragged and querulous", and more recently "rambling" and "excruciatingly hard to listen to" .
The TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855 as the Daily Telegraph and Courier...
identifies "strangulated diction" and "repetition of small words" among his traits; in the same article, though maintaining he is "loads better than [he] was", Peston himself concedes he is "still not as polished as some". His characteristic mannerisms have been particularly well-observed by impressionist
Rory BremnerRoderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire.-Early life:...
.
Peston has stated "I am not going to endeavour to become somebody hugely smooth and polished."
Books
Peston published his biography of Gordon Brown
Brown's Britain in January 2005, which details the rivalry between
Gordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party. Brown became Prime Minister in June 2007, after the resignation of Tony Blair and three days after becoming leader of the governing Labour Party...
and the then Prime Minister
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton "Tony" Blair is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
.
Brown's Britain was described by
Sir Howard DaviesSir Howard Davies is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. Davies teaches for the TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program, an alliance of NYU Stern, the London School of Economics and HEC School of Management....
, director of the
London School of EconomicsThe London School of Economics and Political Science, commonly referred to as the London School of Economics or LSE, is a specialist constituent college of the University of London in London, England....
, as "a book of unusual political significance". The fly cover of the book describes how "Peston was given unprecedented access to Gordon Brown and his friends and colleagues". Telling Brown's side of the Blair/Brown power struggle, it is believed that Peston has used the relationship then built up with Brown for many of his later financial news story "scoops" at the BBC.
In February 2008, Hodder & Stoughton published Peston's latest book, "Who Runs Britain? How the Super-Rich are Changing our Lives." In
The GuardianThe Guardian is a British daily newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Founded in 1821, it is unique among major British newspapers in being owned by a foundation .The Guardian Weekly, which circulates worldwide, provides a compact digest of four newspapers...
,
Polly ToynbeePolly Toynbee is a British journalist and writer, and has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and broadly supports the Labour Party, while urging it in many areas to be more left-wing. She was appointed President of the British Humanist Association in...
said of it: "Reading Peston's book, you can only be flabbergasted all over again at how Labour kowtowed to wealth, glorified the City and put all the nation's economic eggs into one dangerous basket of fizzy finance."
Personal life
Peston is married to the writer Sian Busby. The couple have two sons. Peston relaxes by listening to his collection of 500 singles from the
SeventiesThe 1970s was the decade that ran from January 1, 1970, to December 31, 1979.In the Western world, social progressive values that began in the 1960s, such as increasing political awareness and political and economic liberty of women, continued to grow...
. He is also an avid artist and enjoys painting scenes of ocean settings and wild animals. He supports
Arsenal F.C.Arsenal Football Club are an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London...
External links