25 Facts About Robert Peston

Robert Peston is the political editor of ITV News and host of the weekly political discussion show Peston.

Robert Peston became known to the wider public with his reporting on the late 2000s financial crisis, especially with his exclusive information on the Northern Rock crisis.

Robert Peston is the founder of the education charity Speakers for Schools.

Robert James Kenneth Peston was born into a Jewish family on 25 April 1960, the son of Helen Conroy and Maurice Peston, Baron Peston, an economist and Labour life peer.

Robert Peston graduated with a second-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Balliol College, Oxford, and then studied at the Universite libre de Bruxelles.

From 1989 to 1990, Robert Peston worked for the short-lived Sunday Correspondent newspaper as Deputy City Editor, before being appointed City Editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1990.

In late 2005, it was announced that Robert 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 website and on Radio 4's Today.

On 28 August 2009, Robert Peston had a highly publicised row with James Murdoch, following the latter's MacTaggart lecture.

Robert Peston is the founder of Speakers for Schools, a pro-bono education venture which organises speakers from the worlds of business, politics, media, the arts, science, engineering and sports to give talks for free in state schools.

On 17 October 2013, Robert Peston was appointed Economics Editor of BBC News, replacing Stephanie Flanders who was appointed as Chief Market Strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management.

Robert Peston continued as Business Editor, as well until his replacement Kamal Ahmed took over the post on 24 March 2014.

On 4 October 2015, it was announced that Robert Peston would leave the BBC to join ITV News as their Political Editor, replacing Tom Bradby who became the main presenter of News at Ten.

Robert Peston made his last appearance on BBC News on 25 November 2015, and his first appearance on ITV's News at Ten on 11 January 2016.

Robert Peston had a significant scoop in April 2016, when Prime Minister David Cameron stated in an interview he had profited from his father's offshore Blairmore Holdings trust, after information about the trust had been disclosed in the Panama Papers release.

In December 2019, Robert Peston apologised for incorrectly tweeting, without verification, that a Labour activist had punched a Conservative Party adviser.

Robert Peston has won the Harold Wincott Senior Financial Journalist of the Year Award, the London Press Club's Scoop of the Year Award, Granada Television's What the Papers Say award for Investigative Journalist of the Year and the Wincott Young Financial Journalist of the Year.

Robert Peston was 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.

Robert Peston won the Work Foundation's Broadcast News Journalism Award and the Foundation's Radio Programme of the Year Award.

Robert Peston's blog won the digital media category in the Private Equity and Venture Capital Journalist of the Year Awards.

Robert Peston received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2010.

Robert Peston published his biography of Gordon Brown, Brown's Britain, in January 2005.

Robert Peston married British-Canadian writer Sian Busby in 1998, and the two had a son named Maximilian.

In September 2018, Robert Peston said he felt guilty after falling in love with another woman several years after his wife's death, and revealed that he was now in a relationship with author and journalist Charlotte Edwardes.

Robert Peston was born into a non-religious Jewish family, and has described himself as culturally Jewish rather than religiously so.

In September 2021, Robert Peston stated that he had recently recovered from a COVID-19 infection.