Nick Robinson (journalist)

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Nicholas Anthony Robinson (born 5 October 1963) is a British journalist, currently a presenter on the

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 exam. ...

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's ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 ...

'' programme. Prior to this he spent ten years as

political editor The political editor of a newspaper or broadcaster is the senior political reporter who covers politics and related matters for the newspaper or station. They may have a large team of political correspondents working under them. In publishing, beca ...

for the BBC and has had many other roles with the broadcaster. Robinson was interested in politics from an early age. He studied philosophy, politics and economics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, where he was also president of the

Oxford University Conservative Association The Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) is a student Conservative association founded in 1924, whose members are drawn from the University of Oxford. Since October 2009, OUCA has been affiliated to Conservative Future and its su ...

. Starting out in broadcasting at

Piccadilly Radio Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...

, after a year as president of the Conservative Party youth group, he worked his way up as a producer, eventually becoming deputy editor of '' Panorama'' before becoming a political correspondent in 1996. Robinson became the BBC's chief political correspondent in 1999. Between 2002 and 2005, he worked for ITV News as political editor but then returned to the BBC assuming the same role. Known for his confrontational and provocative approach, Robinson has on several occasions caused a stir with his style of questioning, particularly of national leaders such as

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

. He has presented programmes such as ''

Westminster Live ''Westminster Live'' was a weekly television programme focusing on political developments within the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The programme began on 21 November 1989 on the same day as television cameras were first allowed into the Hou ...

'', ''Weekend Breakfast'' and ''Late Night Live'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, and ''

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 ...

'' on BBC Two.

Early life

Robinson was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, on 5 October 1963, to a translator mother and a sales director father. His mother was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, to where her

German-Jewish The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...

parents had fled during the 1930s. His father was of English background. His parents first met at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

in Switzerland, and married three months later. Robinson was interested in

political journalism Political journalism is a broad branch of journalism that includes coverage of all aspects of politics and political science, although the term usually refers specifically to coverage of civil governments and political power. Political journa ...

from the age of eight. He was educated at Cheadle Hulme School and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics. Whilst travelling in Europe in 1982, he survived a car crash in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

, France, in which the car, a two-door

Volkswagen Beetle The Volkswagen Beetle—officially the Volkswagen Type 1, informally in German (meaning "beetle"), in parts of the English-speaking world the Bug, and known by many other nicknames in other languages—is a two-door, rear-engine economy car, ...

, exploded; his friends James Nelson and Will Redhead (son of

Brian Redhead Brian Leonard Redhead (28 December 1929 – 23 January 1994) was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was a co-presenter of the ''Today'' programme on BBC Radio 4 from 1975 until 1993, shortly before his death. He was a great lover ...

, an earlier presenter of ''

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

) were killed. Robinson was "severely burned", spent five weeks in hospital and had to defer his university place. Brian Redhead became Robinson's mentor, and later encouraged his career in political journalism, giving him a copy of

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

's ''Arguments for Socialism'' for his birthday. However, Robinson's early political affiliations were to the right.

Political activism

Robinson was a founder-member of Macclesfield Young Conservatives (YC) and rose through the ranks, becoming Cheshire YC Chairman from 1982 to 1984 and became a key activist in the moderate-controlled North West Area organisation.

Philip Pedley Philip Pedley is a former teacher, banned from the profession after having been found repeatedly to have abused pupils at Oundle school using racist language. He has also been a British Conservative activist who held a number of positions in th ...

, as National YC Chairman, co-opted Robinson onto the YC National Advisory Committee in 1983 and appointed him National Campaign Director of

Youth for Multilateral Disarmament Youth for Multilateral Disarmament was a campaigning organisation set up by the National Young Conservatives to counter Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) activities with young voters. The National Chairman of the Young Conservatives, Iain Pic ...

. Robinson was elected National Vice Chairman from 1985 to 1987 and succeeded a fellow moderate, Richard Fuller, when Robinson was elected Chairman of the National Young Conservatives on the moderate ticket against strong right-wing opposition (1987–1988). At university he was President of the

in 1985.

Career

Early career: 1986–1996

Robinson's first position in broadcasting was at

in Manchester, which he took up while recovering from his injuries. He joined the

...
in 1986 as a production trainee, and later worked extensively as a television and radio producer for a variety of shows including '' Newsround'' and ''

Crimewatch ''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...

''. He then became an assistant producer for '' On the Record'', and in 1993 was promoted to deputy editor of '' Panorama'', a position he held for three years. In 1995, whilst Robinson was at ''Panorama'', he wrote an internal BBC memorandum questioning how an interview with Prime Minister John Major could be defended in the run-up to the Scottish local elections. When leaked, this gained attention from the Labour Party, which perceived it as the legitimised denial of equal time in the run-up to local elections.

Political correspondent: 1996–2002

In 1996 he became a political correspondent, presenting ''Weekend Breakfast'' and ''Late Night Live'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, and in 1997 he covered the general election for BBC Radio. In October 1999 he became

BBC News 24 BBC News (also known as the BBC News Channel) is a British free-to-air public broadcast television news channel for BBC News. It was launched as BBC News 24 on 9 November 1997 at 5:30 pm as part of the BBC's foray into digital domestic telev ...

's chief political correspondent, and also presented ''

''. In the run-up to the 2001 general election, Robinson started keeping a daily diary of the campaign. Entitled ''The Campaign Today'', it later became ''Newslog'', and continued to be updated until Robinson left the BBC. When he returned in 2005 he began a new blog with the same name.

ITN political editor: 2002–2005

Robinson left the BBC in 2002 to join

Independent Television News Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, N ...

(ITN) as the

of ITV News.

Tom Bradby Thomas Matthew Bradby (born 13 January 1967) is a British journalist and novelist who currently presents the ''ITV News at Ten''. He was previously political editor for ITV News from 2005 to 2015, and presented '' The Agenda with Tom Bradby'', ...

, who later succeeded him in the role, described the appointment as "bold, imaginative and instantly successful". Robinson stayed with ITN for three years, and caused a major stir early in the 2005 general election campaign, when a Labour Party poster was unveiled. The poster claimed the Conservative Party would initiate cuts of £35 billion to public services if elected; Robinson challenged Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, claiming the poster was misleading, which forced Blair to admit the £35 billion figure was "disingenuous".

United Kingdom government austerity programme The United Kingdom government austerity programme is a fiscal policy that was adopted for a period in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. The term was used by the Coalition and Conservative governments in office from 2010 to 2 ...

Later on in the election campaign, Labour announced that Tony Blair would be making "the most important speech of the campaign" on immigration, with a specially invited audience. Robinson asked Blair why there were only white people in the audience, and Blair pointed out a single Asian man to disprove Robinson. Later, Robinson stated: "We know that the big two parties carefully select audiences to give a particular appearance. Is it a great controversy to point this out? That's informing the audience." On election night, Robinson joined presenters

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

and

Alastair Stewart Alastair James Stewart OBE (born 22 June 1952) is an English former journalist and newscaster. Formerly presenting for ITV News, he joined GB News as a presenter in 2021. He has won the Royal Television Society's News Presenter of the Year awa ...

to reveal the results with political analysis.

Return to the BBC: 2005–present

Robinson left ITN and was appointed as the BBC political editor in preference to

Martha Kearney Martha Catherine Kearney (born 8 October 1957) is a British-Irish journalist and broadcaster. She was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's lunchtime news programme ''The World at One'' for 11 years, and in April 2018 became a presenter of the ear ...

in August 2005, replacing

Andrew Marr Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited '' The Independent'' newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC ...

. Robinson continued his provocative approach to journalism, and on more than one occasion had run-ins with powerful politicians. During Tony Blair's visit to Israel in 2006 to discuss the Lebanon War, journalists were asked not to bring up the ongoing rift with

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Tony B ...

. Bradby, then the ITV political editor, asked a question on the subject but was told it was "disrespectful". Robinson then followed on the same topic, asking a difficult question on the feud between the Chancellor and Prime Minister. He was criticised for distracting from the main issue of the conference, but he argued that "I'm paid to ask questions ... particularly at a time when there are incredibly serious allegations ... I react very badly to organised attempts to stop journalists asking questions." Robinson later criticised Blair's announcement of his intention to stand down. He explained how he considered the setup "stage management", and how no journalists were allowed to ask questions. In December 2006,

showed dissatisfaction when he was asked if he was in denial about the situation in Iraq (the most Bush had said about the situation was that the increase in attacks was "unsettling"). Bush replied "It's bad in Iraq. Does that help?". He had another run-in with Bush at a press conference at Camp David, when Bush asked him "you still hanging around?". He then suggested to Robinson, with reference to the fact that it was a hot day, that "next time you should cover your bald head". As Bush walked away, Robinson replied "I didn't know you cared", to which Bush responded "I don't". Robinson described his quip as a "fatal error" on his blog. In a final encounter in 2008, Bush joked with Robinson about still not wearing his hat. Robinson continues to keep a political blog on the BBC website. On 5 May 2006, he said that when he heard about

Charles Clarke Charles Rodway Clarke (born 21 September 1950) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006. Early life T ...

's sacking in the 2006 Cabinet reshuffle, he was "naked in bed." He later apologised, saying he was "merely trying to add authenticity. That's the naked truth". Another post, dated 25 February 2008, criticised MPs defending Michael Martin against allegations of the misuse of expenses, which caused controversy in parliament. As political editor, Robinson worked across the BBC's politics-related programmes, such as ''Today'' on BBC Radio 4, ''

The Daily Politics ''Daily Politics'' was a BBC Television programme which aired between 6 January, 2003 and 24 July, 2018, presented by Andrew Neil and Jo Coburn. ''Daily Politics'' took an in-depth review of the daily events in both Westminster and other areas ...

'' and ''

''. He has been a member of BBC's election night team. He has also appeared as a guest on other television programmes, including '' Children in Need'', '' Have I Got News for You'' and ''

Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...

''. Robinson has made several documentaries. In May 2011, he presented '' The Street That Cut Everything'', where residents of a street in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

had their council services withdrawn for six weeks as an experiment. In 2014 he presented ''The Truth About Immigration'' for BBC Two. For radio, he made ''The Prime Ministers'' – a 16-part biographical series for BBC Radio 4. In advance of the 2015 general election he made a three-part documentary, entitled ''Can Democracy Work''. It was announced on 9 July 2015 that, beginning that autumn, Robinson would become a presenter on the early morning BBC Radio 4 programme ''Today'', taking over from

James Naughtie Alexander James Naughtie FRSE (surname pronounced ; born 9 August 1951) is a British radio and news presenter for the BBC. Between 1994 and 2015, he was one of the main presenters of Radio 4's the '' Today programme''. In his 21-plus years ...

. On 5 February 2019, Robinson co-hosted the live final of BBC Two's '' Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century'' alongside

Claudia Winkleman Claudia Anne Irena Winkleman (born 15 January 1972) is an English television presenter, radio personality, film critic and journalist. Between 2004 and 2010, she presented '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on weeknights on BBC Two. Since ...

. Robinson hosted the final head-to-head debate between

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

and

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

prior to the 2019 general election. Reports surfaced in February 2020 that Robinson had been approached in connection with a possibly lucrative future role at the upcoming radio station

Times Radio Times Radio is a British digital radio station owned by News UK. It is jointly operated by Wireless Group (which News UK acquired in 2016), ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times''. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audienc ...

, owned by

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...

. However he remains at the BBC.

Criticism

Robinson has been criticised for allegedly reporting with a pro-Conservative bias.

Alastair Campbell Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...

brought up his history of Conservative affiliations during an interview. Bias was claimed particularly in the coverage of the 2010 general election; a

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...

group titled "Nick Robinson should not be the BBC's political editor" was set up in August 2010. In a 2005 interview with David Rowan, the UK editor of ''

Wired News ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

'', Robinson insisted "that his involvement ith the Conservativesceased twenty years ago". On 20 October 2010, following a live ''

BBC News at Six The ''BBC News at Six'' is the evening news programme bulletin from the BBC. Produced by BBC News, the programme is broadcast on the BBC News channel and on British television channel BBC One on weekdays at 6:00pm. For a long period, the ''BB ...

'' report outside Parliament covering the

2010 Spending Review A spending review, or occasionally a comprehensive spending review, is a governmental process in the United Kingdom carried out by HM Treasury to set firm expenditure limits and, through public service agreements, define the key improvements that t ...

, Robinson silently took the anti-war, anti-cuts placard that had been waved directly behind him throughout, broke it in two and stamped on it. Afterwards, another protester, who had climbed the steps of the gantry where the BBC were broadcasting to film the protest on a mobile phone, said: "You should be ashamed of yourself, mate. Shame on you!" Robinson replied "I'm not remotely ashamed of myself. Why should I be ashamed of myself?" He wrote in his blog afterwards: "I lost my temper and I regret that. However, as I explained afterwards to the protesters who disrupted my broadcast, there are many opportunities to debate whether the troops should be out of Afghanistan without the need to stick a sign on a long pole and wave it in front of a camera". Some days later, Robinson read out a jokingly ambiguous "letter of apology" on the comedy panel show '' Have I Got News for You'', broadcast on 4 November 2010. On the 22 May 2013 edition of the ''BBC News at Six'', Robinson relayed the news that the fatal stabbing of an off-duty British soldier in London that afternoon was being treated by the government as a terrorist incident, but attracted criticism after quoting a source describing the perpetrators as being "of Muslim appearance". The BBC received 43 complaints about Robinson's use of the term, and he issued an apology on his BBC blog the following day. On 11 September 2014, as part of the coverage of the Scottish independence referendum, Robinson had a dispute with Scottish National Party leader

Alex Salmond Alexander Elliot Anderson Salmond (; born 31 December 1954) is a Scottish politician and economist who served as First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014. A prominent figure on the Scottish nationalist movement, he has served as leader ...

. The previous day Robinson had reported that

Lloyds Bank Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the " Big Four" clearing banks. Lloyds Bank is the largest retail bank in Britain, and has an exte ...

and RBS would be moving their registered offices from Scotland to London in the event of a "Yes" vote. In the exchange Robinson asked Salmond two questions: the first about the economic impact of RBS moving its headquarters; the second, more general, about why to trust a politician when CEO's of certain companies advised against independence. In his response, Salmond answered both questions over a 5-minute period, then in a 2-minute 14, as Robinson heckled Salmond's answer he raised points about how the BBC had obtained market-sensitive information. A report was shown on all BBC evening news programmes later that day as part of which Robinson stated Salmond had not answered his question but had instead chosen to lay accusations against the BBC despite this part being a minority of the exchange. The full exchange was posted many times on social media. The BBC received complaints from viewers over the implication that Salmond had not answered a question put to him; there was a protest in Glasgow, in which between 1000 and 2000 protestors called for Robinson to be sacked. The BBC responded: "The BBC considers that the questions were valid and the overall report balanced and impartial, in line with our editorial guidelines. In November 2014, Robinson was covering the count of the Rochester and Strood by-election. He was seen smiling while posing for a photograph with Jayda Fransen, candidate and deputy leader of the far-right party

Britain First Britain First is a far-right, British fascist political party formed in 2011 by former members of the British National Party (BNP). The group was founded by Jim Dowson, an anti-abortion and far-right campaigner. * ''See also'': The organ ...

. Robinson denied all connections to Fransen, and later stated that he had assumed she was a staff member at the count seeking a "selfie". It was later reported that Fransen was wearing a prominent badge saying "candidate" at the time. In October 2019, Robinson was accused by Douglas Murray of entrapping him during the ''Today'' programme by raising a headline to an article of his from two years earlier.

Personal life

Robinson met his wife Pippa, a relationship counsellor, at university and they married in 1991. They have three children: Harry, Will and Alice. He lives in north London, close to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, with a second home in

Orford, Suffolk Orford is a village with historic town status in Suffolk, England, within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths AONB. It is located east of Woodbridge. History Like many Suffolk coastal towns it was of some importance as a port and fishing village in ...

. He is a lifelong Manchester United fan, and enjoys sailing and the theatre. In early 2015 Robinson underwent surgery to remove a bronchial

carcinoid A carcinoid (also carcinoid tumor) is a slow-growing type of neuroendocrine tumor originating in the cells of the neuroendocrine system. In some cases, metastasis may occur. Carcinoid tumors of the midgut (jejunum, ileum, appendix, and cecum) ...

tumour; he returned to work at the BBC on 13 April 2015 as part of coverage for the 2015 general election. The operation was reported to have been "a complete success"."BBC's Nick Robinson has successful op to remove lung tumour"
. ''the Guardian''. Retrieved on 16 December 2015.

Bibliography

* Robinson, Nick. (2012). ''Live from Downing Street: The Inside Story of Politics, Power and the Media''. Bantam Press. * Robinson, Nick (2015), ''Election Notebook: The Inside Story of the Battle over Britain's Future and my Personal Battle to Report it''. Bantam Press.

References

External links

Nick Robinson's blog
at BBC * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Robinson, Nick 1963 births Living people People educated at Cheadle Hulme School Alumni of University College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford University Conservative Association BBC newsreaders and journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists English bloggers English political journalists English political commentators People from Macclesfield English people of German-Jewish descent British social commentators British male bloggers People from Orford, Suffolk