Steve Richards

Last updated

Steve Richards (born 6 June 1960) is a British TV presenter and political columnist, who has written columns for the Guardian , Independent and New Statesman , of which he was political editor for a time.

Contents

He regularly presents Radio 4's Week in Westminster and hosts a podcast and a one-man show, Rock N Roll Politics. [1]

Richards has also authored several books on politics and British political history, including The Prime Ministers We Never Had and The Prime Ministers, both of which received critical acclaim.

His most recent work, Turning Points: Crisis and Change in Modern Britain, from 1945 to Truss, was published by Macmillan in 2023.

Early life

Richards was educated at Christ's College, formerly a state grammar school, in Finchley, North London, and graduated in history at the University of York in 1981 [2] before securing a place on a journalism course at the London College of Printing.

Journalism career

Richards worked in local radio and regional TV in Newcastle, before becoming a BBC political correspondent in 1990. In 1996, he became Political Editor for the New Statesman while continuing to present on radio and TV. In 2000, he became a political columnist at The Independent and Independent on Sunday.

Richards presented GMTV's The Sunday Programme , BBC Two's Despatch Box and BBC Radio 4's Week in Westminster.

In early 2017, he presented a series of television talks on modern Prime Ministers entitled Leadership Reflections, with episodes about Harold Wilson, Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, and David Cameron, broadcast on BBC Parliament.

In late 2017, Richards presented another series of reflections, this time on major political "Turning Points". There are six episodes and they are about the following topics: the 1979 general election; the rise of the SDP; the death of John Smith; the financial crash of 2008; the Brexit referendum; and the 2017 general election. They were first broadcast on BBC Parliament from 7–12 November.

In 2018, he presented another series of episodes for BBC Parliament, entitled Reflections: The Prime Ministers We Never Had, which profiled Rab Butler, Denis Healey, Tony Benn, Roy Jenkins, Neil Kinnock, Michael Heseltine, Kenneth Clarke, Michael Portillo, and David Miliband and Ed Miliband.

Personal life

He lives in North London with his wife and two children.

Richard’s son, Jake Richards, is the Labour Parliamentary Candidate for Rother Valley. As well as this, he serves as a barrister in the North of London, where he lives with his partner and Sky News presenter, Liz Bates.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gordon Brown</span> Prime Minister of the UK from 2007 to 2010

James Gordon Brown is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer under Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dunfermline East from 1983 to 2005, and Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath from 2005 to 2015. Brown is the most recent Labour Party prime minister and the most recent not to be from England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeremy Paxman</span> English retired journalist, author and broadcaster (born 1950)

Jeremy Dickson Paxman is an English retired broadcaster, journalist, author, and television presenter. Born in Leeds, Paxman was educated at Malvern College and St Catharine's College, Cambridge, where he edited the undergraduate newspaper Varsity. At Cambridge, he was a member of a Labour Party club and described himself as a socialist, in later life describing himself as a one-nation conservative. He joined the BBC in 1972, initially at BBC Radio Brighton, relocating to London in 1977. In following years, he worked on Tonight and Panorama, becoming a newsreader for the BBC Six O'Clock News and later a presenter on Breakfast Time and University Challenge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Marr</span> British journalist

Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a British journalist and broadcaster. Beginning his career as a political commentator, he subsequently edited The Independent newspaper from 1996 to 1998 and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 to 2005.

BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that showcases parliamentary content from across the United Kingdom. It broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the London Assembly, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Welsh Senedd. When none of these chambers are sitting, the channel does not broadcast, and its feed is given over to a simulcast of the BBC News channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas Alexander</span> British Labour politician

Douglas Garven Alexander is a British Labour Party politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, previously Paisley South, from 1997 until his defeat in 2015. During this time, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Scottish Secretary, Transport Secretary and International Development Secretary in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He subsequently served in Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Foreign Secretary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Johnson</span> British politician (born 1950)

Alan Arthur Johnson is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2011. A member of the Labour Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle from 1997 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Parris</span> British journalist, broadcaster and former politician

Matthew Francis Parris is a British political writer and broadcaster, formerly a Conservative Member of Parliament. He was born in South Africa to British parents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Lawson</span> English journalist, broadcaster and author

Mark Gerard Lawson is an English journalist, broadcaster and author. Specialising in culture and the arts, he is best known for presenting the flagship BBC Radio 4 arts programme Front Row between 1998 and 2014. He is also a Guardian columnist, and presented Mark Lawson Talks To... on BBC Four from 2006 to 2015.

Steve Penk is a British radio and television presenter. He was born in Rusholme in Manchester and attended Hazel Grove High School. At the age of 16, he started his radio career at Piccadilly Radio in 1978, where his breakfast show delivered record ratings, the highest in the station's history to this day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Aaronovitch</span> English journalist, television presenter and author

David Morris Aaronovitch is an English journalist, television presenter and author. He is a regular columnist for The Times and the author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Country (2000), Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History (2009) and Party Animals: My Family and Other Communists (2016). He won the Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2001, and the What the Papers Say "Columnist of the Year" award for 2003. He previously wrote for The Independent and The Guardian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ed Miliband</span> British politician (born 1969)

Edward Samuel Miliband is a British politician serving as Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero since 2021. He has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Doncaster North since 2005. Miliband was Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition between 2010 and 2015. Alongside his brother, Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he served in the Cabinet from 2007 to 2010 under Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adam Boulton</span> British journalist and broadcaster

Thomas Adam Babington Boulton is a British journalist and broadcaster who is regular panelist on TalkTV. He was formerly editor-at-large of Sky News, and presenter of All Out Politics and Week In Review. He is also the former political editor of Sky News. He is based at Sky News' Westminster studios in Central London. He was previously the political editor of TV-am, an ITV early-morning broadcasting franchise holder. He held the post of Sky's political editor since being asked to establish its politics team for the launch of the channel in 1989. He is the former presenter of Sky News' Sunday Live with Adam Boulton, and presented a regular weekday news and political programme on Sky News, entitled Boulton and Co from 2011 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geoff Lloyd</span> English radio & TV host

Geoff Barron Lloyd is an English radio presenter, television host, podcast host and writer, best known for his talk radio and music shows. He is married to comedian Sara Barron and hosts the Firecrotch & Normcore podcast with her.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iain Dale</span> British radio broadcaster (born 1962)

Iain Dale is a British broadcaster, author and political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the Total Politics magazine between 2008 and 2012, and the managing director of Biteback Publishing until May 2018. Since September 2010, he has hosted a regular discussion show on the radio station LBC. He was named Radio Presenter of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in 2013 and 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolyn Quinn</span> British journalist and radio presenter

Carolyn Quinn is a British journalist best known for her work on BBC Radio 4 as a political correspondent and for presenting the Today programme and PM.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gloria De Piero</span> British Labour politician

Gloria De Piero is a British broadcaster and former politician, who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield from 2010 to 2019.

Lance Price is Chief of Staff to Kim Leadbeater, MP for Batley and Spen in the UK. He returned to active politics to help run her by-election campaign, having worked with her at the Jo Cox Foundation since the murder of her sister, who was MP for the constituency from 2015 to 2016. He is also a writer, broadcaster and political commentator. He was a journalist for the BBC from 1981 to 1998, then became special adviser to Prime Minister Tony Blair, eventually assuming the role of Director of Communications for the Labour Party, coordinating the Labour Party election campaign of 2001. He has published five books, and appears regularly on Sky News and the BBC. Price's fourth book, The Modi Effect, which details the rise of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Miliband</span> Chief executive of the International Rescue Committee and former British politician

David Wright Miliband is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the International Rescue Committee and a British Labour Party former politician. He was the Foreign Secretary from 2007 to 2010 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for South Shields in North East England from 2001 to 2013. He and his brother, Ed, were the first siblings to sit in the Cabinet simultaneously since Lord Edward and Oliver Stanley in 1938. He was a candidate for Labour Party leadership in 2010, following the departure of Gordon Brown, but was defeated by his brother and subsequently left politics.

<i>Week in Westminster</i>

The Week in Westminster is a weekly political radio programme, which is broadcast on Saturdays on BBC Radio 4.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ayesha Hazarika, Baroness Hazarika</span> Scottish broadcaster and journalist (born 1975)

Ayesha Yousef Hazarika, Baroness Hazarika, is a Scottish broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians.

References

  1. ↑ "Steve Richards Presents Rock'n'Roll Politics 2018". Edinburgh Festival. Retrieved 25 January 2019.
  2. ↑ "The University of York – Development and Alumni Relations". The University of York. Retrieved 17 February 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.