Robert Peston

As BBC Business Editor, Robert has broadcast a series of exclusives about the global financial situation. It was he who revealed the crisis at Northern Rock and RBS, the emergency rescue of HBOS and the inevitability of the Irish bailout. According to the Evening Standard, “as austerity cuts bite, he remains the authoritative voice on the UK economy.”

Robert was previously City and Assistant Editor of The Sunday Telegraph, in charge of business and money sections. Before that he was the FT’s Financial Editor and a member of the editorial board. He also served as Political Editor, Banking Editor and founder of the investigations unit.

At the Royal Television Society’s Television Journalism Awards, Robert won both Specialist Journalist and Television Journalist of the Year for his coverage of the credit crunch and a string of associated stories. Other honours include the Scoop of the Year Award and the Wincott Prize, and Best Performer in a Non-Acting Role at the Broadcasting Press Guild. He’s also won huge acclaim for his blog, which receives 2.5 million views each month.

Books include How Do We Fix This Mess? and Who Runs Britain? – How the Super- Rich are Changing our Lives. The latter explains the nature of the boom, and why we are now having to pay the price for excess. Or, as The Guardian describes it, “how Labour glorified the City and (allowed it to) put all the nation’s economic eggs into one dangerous basket of fizzy finance”.

As well as reporting on business news for radio and television, Robert investigatedthe causes and consequences of the credit crunch in BBC2’s Super Rich: The Greed Game, and presented Peston & The Moneymen for Radio 4. He also gave the Richard Dunn Memorial Lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. He explains that European banking union and new regulations will have broad consequences for Britain. Charting the twists and turns, Robert explores how we can move to a more sustainable, investment based economy.