Robert Peston Keynote Speaker

Robert Peston is a keynote speaker who is the Political Editor at ITV News (UK) and host of the weekly political discussion show ‘Peston’. From 2006-2014, he was the business editor of BBC News and its economics editor from 2014 -2015.

Robert briefly worked at stockbroker Williams de Broë, before becoming a journalist in 1983 for the Investors Chronicle and then joining The Independent newspaper for its launch in 1986. He was appointed City Editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1990.  From 1991 – 2000, he worked for the Financial Times.  At the FT, he was Political Editor, Banking Editor and head of an investigations unit (which he founded), until being made Financial Editor in 1999.   In 2002 he joined The Sunday Telegraph as City Editor, becoming Associate Editor in 2005. In 2005, it was announced that Robert would succeed Jeff Randall as BBC Business Editor.

In 2009, he appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee to answer questions on the role of the media in financial stability and whether financial journalists should operate under any form of reporting restrictions during banking crises.

He became known to the wider public with his reporting on the late 2000’s financial crisis, especially with his exclusive information on the Northern Rock crisis. He is the founder of the education charity Speakers for Schools.   Robert has won numerous awards for his journalism, including Journalist of the Year and Scoop of the Year (twice) from the Royal Television Society.