Andrew Neil

Former Journalist of the Year and one of Debrett’s 500 most influential people in 2015, Andrew Neil is a respected figure in business, current affairs and politics.

A well-known anchorman on BBC TV, Andrew is kind of a big deal: he currently presents three editions of the Daily Politics on BBC2 every week, as well as the Sunday Politics and the award-winning This Week on BBC1. He also anchors Politics Europe on BBC2, and previously presented Straight Talk with Andrew Neil on the BBC News Channel.

And straight-talking he most certainly is: dubbed the ‘most forensic interviewer in broadcasting’ by The Times, we probably wouldn’t want to be in the same room as Andrew if we were running for Prime Minister. In 2013, he was awarded Journalist of the Year by the prestigious British Political Studies Association.

Born in Scotland, he graduated from the University of Glasgow with an MA (Hons) in Political Economy, Political Science and American History.

He went on to work at The Economist, a move that took him to London as House of Commons lobby correspondent, Washington DC as the White House correspondent, and New York as the Wall Street correspondent. In 1982, he was made British Editor of the paper.

After this, Andrew became Editor of the influential Sunday Times, which he moulded into the undisputed multi-section market leader, distinguished for its investigative journalism.

In between editing The Sunday Times, he served as Executive Chairman of Sky Television, which he launched in 1989 as Britain’s first multi-channel satellite TV platform. It is now a £15bn company.

Cartoon fans in the UK owe him for bringing The Simpsons to British screens.

His autobiography Full Disclosure candidly recounts his Sunday Times and Sky TV years, which was serialized in Vanity Fair in the US and the Daily Mail in the UK.

Formerly a member of the International Advisory Board of Al Jazeera, and Publisher of The Scotsman Group of newspapers, he has lectured to some of the most important companies in the world.

Andrew is currently Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Press Holdings Media Group, publishers of The Spectator, Spectator Australia and Apollo, the world-renowned art magazine; Chairman of ITP, the biggest magazine publisher in the Gulf; and Chairman and joint owner of World Media Rights, which produces factual and historical shows for TV channels across the globe.

He also sometimes likes to ride his bike.

His speaking topics include:

- Politics, economics and international relations

- Business and the digital revolution