1. Sebastian Early Anthony Payne was born on 2 July 1989 and is a British journalist and former think tank director.
16 Facts About Sebastian Payne
1. 2.
Sebastian Payne began his career with stints at The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator, before joining the Financial Times in 2016, where he eventually rose to become the paper's Whitehall correspondent.
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Sebastian Payne left the think tank and joined The Times as a writer and columnist at the end of 2024.
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Sebastian Payne attended St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon, and later the private day school Dame Allan's School for sixth form, where he began studying politics.
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Sebastian Payne was media editor of the student newspaper Palatinate, and manager of Purple Radio, a student radio station where he presented a show.
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Sebastian Payne graduated from the university's Van Mildert College in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science.
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Sebastian Payne obtained a Master of Arts in investigative journalism from City, University of London in 2011.
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Sebastian Payne volunteered for Conservative Campaign Headquarters during the 2010 general election campaign.
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Sebastian Payne became a data reporter at The Daily Telegraph in 2011, before leaving the paper the following year.
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Sebastian Payne was an online editor of The Spectator magazine and the deputy editor of its Coffee House blog from 2012 to 2015.
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Sebastian Payne joined the Financial Times as digital opinion editor at the beginning of 2016.
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Sebastian Payne became the paper's political leader writer, before being appointed Whitehall correspondent in March 2019.
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Sebastian Payne wrote a fortnightly political opinion column and presented the weekly Payne's Politics podcast.
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In December 2022, Sebastian Payne left the Financial Times to become director of the think tank Onward.
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In 2023, Sebastian Payne applied to be the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the 2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election and was shortlisted but not selected.
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Sebastian Payne unsuccessfully ran to be the Conservative candidate in several other seats, including Bromsgrove, Bridlington and the Wolds, Waveney Valley, and Surrey Heath.