This week applications close for the position of Sky News Political Editor. There has been much speculation about who the runners and riders are, with some ludicrous names being put forward by some of the betting companies to succeed Adam Boulton. I would say this is one of the top three jobs in political broadcasting, Nick Robinson and Andrew Neil occupying the other two. So I thought I’d spend a few minutes of my Sunday mulling over who the real contenders might be, and perhaps who they ought to be.
Let’s start with the internal candidates. While Sophy Ridge has impressed since she joined Sky News, it’s probably a bit to early for her to be a serious contender. Joey Jones and Jon Craig have the strongest claims and both have a right to be considered very seriously. Craig has scored brownie points with Sky bosses for not throwing his toys out of the pram when Jones got the coveted ‘Deputy’ post, although he was clearly miffed. He’s an old fashioned journalist and can sniff out a story others might miss. He’s good on screen and popular across the parties, something which is an important prerequisite. Joey Jones is a superb analyst, rarely makes a wrong call and took to the Westminster beat like a duck to water. As Deputy he may well have the strongest internal claim, but it has to be said that deputies rarely inherit the crown. The rumour mill suggest that Sky want a political editor with a bit more ‘sizzle’ than Jones may be able to offer, but this is not a showbiz role, and substance ought to triumph over style.
I’d throw three other Sky names into the ring. Niall Paterson left the Sky Westminster Office a couple of years ago and was moved to the defence brief. He now covers media and technology. I was very sad to seem him go from politics as I thought he was the most brilliant exponent of the ‘live to camera’ art of reporting. I hope he has thrown his hat into the ring, and could be worth an outside bet. Dermot Murnaghan may feel that the time might be right for a move from the studio to get his teeth into day to day politics, something you can see he relishes from his Sunday morning programme. And Sky stalwart Stephen Dixon , who presents the weekend Sunrise show, should not be discounted. He is very well plugged into Westminster politics, is good on camera and has a wicked sense of humour.
Tom Bradby who has had the ITV News Pol ed job for nine years now. By the election next year it will nearly be ten years. He wouldn’t be human if he wasn’t thinking of what’s next. He’d be brilliant on Sky but with a young family, living outside London and his book and film exploits, it’s difficult to think he would relish putting in the hours that are a basic part of the Sky job. As an on screen presence he is hard to beat and he clearly loves his politics.
Chris Ship and James Mates from ITV are also outside bets. Shippy always has a wicked glint in his eye and I’d love to see him on a 24 hour news channel as I think he’d be highly entertaining outside the straitjacket of a half hour news programme. Mates would also do a good job, although may not like the hours. Last but not least there are many people who think Andy Bell , Channel 5’s political editor would slot into the Sky job very easily. Likeable and polished, he has a great on-camera look and is quick on his feet.
Let’s look at candidates who currently work for the BBC. Had Laura Kuenssberg not already just signed up for Newsnight I think she would have been the candidate to beat. She is one of the best political reporters on TV at the moment and I am so glad she will be a key part of Newsnight’s future. I’m told she was tipped off about the Sky job becoming available but still pressed ahead with Plan A to leave ITV for the pasture of Newsnight. That’s a clear indication, I’d have thought, that she sees her long term future at the BBC and maybe has half an eye on the BBC Political Editor’s job after the election. So that brings us to Nick Robinson. What a coup it would be if Sky could tempt him. I can’t see it happening, even though I think it’s a job Nick would revel in and excel at. It wouldn’t surprise me if discussions had taken place, but if he did it, it would be a political media earthquake. James Landale is one of the bookie’s favourites and it is easy to see why. He’s got a print background, is brilliant at ‘lives’, has a good screen presence, little fazes him and he has a brilliant sense of humour, as evidenced by his piece on THIS WEEK a couple of weeks ago. I often feel that he would come into his own if he was given a bit more freedom, and the Sky job would do that. Some say his background as an Old Etonian may provide a hurdle, but if it does, it shows what a perverse world we live in.
John Pienaar is a great live broadcaster and has a superb contacts book, but I’ve always seen him as very much a BBC man. The fact that for some years now he has concentrated on radio rather than TV may count against him. Jon Sopel may also be applying on the basis that he has been more or less frozen out of BBC political coverage and is restricted to presenting on the News Channel, after many years walking the Westminster beat. My penultimate BBC tip, and it’s very much an outside bet, is Robert Peston. If he calculates that the BBC is unlikely to allow him to succeed Nick Robinson, he might well apply for the Sky job, as I am told he is desperate to join the political beat that he last walked at the Financial Times.
My final BBC candidate would be Jeremy Vine. He’s one of the finest political broadcasters of our time and may feel that ten years in the Radio 2 lunchtime hotseat is enough. He’d add some vitality and pizzazz to the Sky output and it would free him from having to dress as a cowboy on the BBC election night show. If I were him, I’d be seriously thinking about applying for it. Or when you get to his level, maybe you don’t apply for things – they come looking for you.
There’s a story doing the rounds that Adam Boulton left his computer on and someone walking past spied a memo he had written to Sky News chief John Ryley where he recommended a candidate with ‘bottom’. The two names he suggested were apparently James Landale and Gary Gibbon , Channel 4 News’s political editor. Gibbon certainly ought to be in the running. He’s authoritative, respected and very much in the Michael Brunson mould of political journalists. Gary’s problem may be that he mainly does packages rather than breaking news reports into Channel 4 News and hasn’t had the chance to show his wares live on his toes. If you see what I mean! His newsreading colleague Cathy Newman has also been mentioned as a favourite. Like Gary, she knows a good political story when she sniffs one, but again, suffers from a lack of breaking news reporting experience in her current job. One man who certainly doesn’t suffer from that is Channel 4 news chief political correspondent Michael Crick. He might be regarded by Sky News suits as too awkward to manage, but if they want someone in the Adam Boulton mode, they could do far worse. His plebgate scoops are proof that he’s still ‘got it’.
It’s not easy to make the transition from print media to TV. Robin Oakley never quite managed it, yet James Landale and Jon Craig took to broadcasting like ducks to water. You never can tell. So in many ways it would be a big risk to pluck someone from a newspaper and put them straight into the top job. The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn was an early favourite with the bookies, but his odds have lengthened. His role in the Plebgate story may count against him until the court cases are put to bed, so it may be wrong time, wrong place for Tom. Had Tim Shipman not just moved from the Mail to the Sunday Times I would have tipped him as a good outside bet. He doesn’t do much TV but there are few better story getters in the lobby than Tim. George Parker from the Financial Times is said to be keen to throw his hat in the ring and is the subject of some heavy betting. He has upped his broadcast presence and is doing quite a lot of radio.
Andrew Rawnsley ought to be in the running, but his name hasn’t been mentioned anywhere so far as I can see. Although he is seen as on the Blairite left, he is popular across the political spectrum and has a huge amount of broadcasting experience. Those of us who are a bit long in the tooth will fondly remember A WEEK IN POLITICS which he co-presented with the much missed Vincent Hanna. He’s got great political nouse and has a very good turn of phrase. I think he’d be great at the job.
However, if I were to nail my colours to the mast and put forward one candidate from the print media I have no hesitation in saying I would plump for The Guardian’s Nicholas Watt. How he is not political editor of one of the broadsheets is quite beyond me. His spot on THIS WEEK and his films for the DAILY POLITICS have allowed us to see what a great political brain he possesses and what a good broadcaster he is. If he doesn’t get the Sky job, he will surely be snapped up soon by one of the broadcast media.
Whoever gets the job has a very hard act to follow. Adam Boulton is a political broadcasting colossus. He’s one of the few people who have truly changed the terms of trade in political news TV. He really blazed a trail. It’s been clear for some time that he had itchy feet. His few months in the US before the presidential election bore testimony to that and I can see him doing a lot more of that sort of thing. He and Sky have both been quick to maintain that he will still have some sort of political role and I imagine he will present their election night coverage. But how much of a back seat driver will he be? Will he still have an office at Millbank, for instance? If I were replacing him I’d want some pretty good guarantees that he wouldn’t be looking over my shoulder the whole time. Think Michael White at The Guardian and Trevor Kavanagh at The Sun. It wasn’t easy at all for their successors with both retained by their respective papers even after they stepped down as political editors.
I wondered whether to write this blogpost at all, seeing as I know virtually all of the contenders and it’s a bit invidious to choose between them, but in the end that’s what Sky have to do.
So apologies to everyone else, but if I were Sky I’d be picking Nick Watt. Which almost guarantees they won’t. Sorry Nick.
