Sir Robbie Paul Gibb (born September 1964) is a British

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. P ...

professional,

political advisor Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely tele ...

and broadcast journalist. Robbie Gibb, brother of Conservative MP

Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for E ...

, was the head of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's political programme output before leaving the BBC in July 2017 to become

Director of Communications Director of communications is a position in both the private and public sectors. A director of communications is responsible for managing and directing an organization's internal and external communications. Directors of communications supervis ...

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along wi ...

for

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

Early life

Gibb was born in September 1964 and attended

Royal Holloway, University of London Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

. Like his brother

Nick Nick may refer to: * Nick (given name) * A cricket term for a slight deviation of the ball off the edge of the bat * British slang for being arrested * British slang for a police station * British slang for stealing * Short for nickname Place ...

, in his early years Gibb was recruited and trained by the

National Alliance of Russian Solidarists The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (NTS; russian: Народно-трудовой союз российских солидаристов; НТС; ''Narodno-trudovoy soyuz rossiyskikh solidaristov'', ''NTS'') is a Russian anticommunist o ...

, a Russian anticommunist organisation.

Journalism career

Gibb is a former editor of the

BBC's #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

''Sunday Politics'' and ''Daily Politics'' programmes. Gibb was head of BBC Westminster, in overall charge of the BBC's political programme output – ''Daily and Sunday Politics'', ''

The Andrew Marr Show ''The Andrew Marr Show'' is a Sunday morning talk show presented by Andrew Marr. It was broadcast on BBC One from 2005 to 2021. The programme replaced the long-running ''Breakfast with Frost'' as the network's flagship Sunday talk show when Davi ...

'', ''This Week'' and Radio 4's ''Westminster Hour''. Prior to joining the political team at Westminster he was deputy editor of

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

''. During the

2016 EU referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shoul ...

campaign Gibb was editor of ''The Great Debate'' at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-sea ...

. He also edited the BBC's 2017 general election debate. In August 2020, it was reported that he was a leading light behind

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ra ...

– a new television channel which had been licensed (by the broadcasting regulator

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

) in January of the same year, and aimed to begin broadcasting in 2021. He stood down as GB News' editorial adviser in October. In April 2021, it was reported Gibb would join the

BBC Board The BBC Board is the governing board of the British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and ...

as the Member for England, following his comments about "woke" and "endemic" bias in entertainment output. He sought to block

Jess Brammar Jessica Mary M. Brammar (born 1982) is a British journalist who has been the editor of the BBC's television news channels BBC News and BBC World News since 2021. Career Brammar attended St Katherine's School in Abbots Leigh near Bristol. She ...

's appointment to a role overseeing the BBC's news channels over concerns that Brammar, a former editor of ''

HuffPost UK ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'', would damage relations with the government. Prominent members of the Labour Party, including Angela Rayner, deputy leader, called for his resignation, saying it was "Tory cronyism at the heart of the BBC". In August 2022, former BBC presenter

Emily Maitlis Emily Maitlis (born 6 September 1970) is a British journalist, documentary filmmaker, and former newsreader for the BBC. She was the lead anchor until the end of 2021 of ''Newsnight'', the BBC Two news and current affairs programme. Early lif ...

stated that Gibb, an "active agent of the Conservative party", played a significant role in determining the nature of the corporation's news output.

Political roles

Gibb was a political advisor and chief of staff to the then Shadow Chancellor

Francis Maude Francis Anthony Aylmer Maude, Baron Maude of Horsham, (born 4 July 1953) is a British Conservative Party politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Trade and Investment from 2015 to 2016, having previously served as Minister ...

. He played a leading role in

Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo (; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster and former politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Journeys'' and '' Great Continental Railway Journ ...

's unsuccessful campaign to be leader of the Conservative Party. In July 2017, it was announced that Gibb would become

following the departure of

Katie Perrior Katie Perrior is a British public relations specialist and columnist for ''The Times''. She worked as a political advisor at 10 Downing Street under Theresa May and previously for Boris Johnson and David Davis (British politician), David Davis. ...

. Gibb is a long-standing supporter of

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

. In April 2019, he was accused by former Conservative minister

Nick Boles Nicholas Edward Coleridge Boles (born 2 November 1965) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Grantham and Stamford from 2010 to 2019. He was a member of the Conservative Party until 2019. Before entering Parliament ...

of being "a hard Brexiteer who wants to destroy the PM's new search for a cross party compromise".

Personal life

Gibb is the brother of Conservative MP and former Schools Minister

. He is married to Liz, and has two daughters. He was appointed a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

in Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019. Sir Robbie is the sole director of Jewish Chronicle Media Limited, having led the consortium which acquired ''

The Jewish Chronicle ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'' newspaper in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibb, Robbie Living people British political consultants Conservative Party (UK) people Knights Bachelor British journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists 1964 births Place of birth missing (living people)