Robert Peston
Encyclopedia
Robert Peston is a British journalist. Since February 2006, he has been the Business Editor for BBC News
. He became known to a wider public with his reporting of the late-2000s financial crisis
, especially with his scoop on the Northern Rock crisis
.
peer
Maurice Peston
and his NHS
-employee wife. The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent Peston to the local comprehensive school
, Highgate Wood Secondary School
, in Crouch End
, North London
. Peston graduated from Balliol College
, Oxford
in 1982, and then studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
after winning a scholarship.
and joining The Independent
newspaper for its launch in 1986. From 1989 to 1990 Peston worked for the short-lived Sunday Correspondent
newspaper as Deputy City Editor, before being appointed City Editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1990.
From 1991 to 2000, he worked for the Financial Times
. At the FT, he was - at various times - Political Editor, Banking Editor and head of an investigations unit (which he founded). During his time as Political Editor he memorably fell out with the then Downing Street Press Secretary Alastair Campbell
who regularly mimicked Peston's habit of flicking back his hair and once responded to a difficult question with the words: "Another question from the Peston school of smartarse journalism." His last position at the FT was Financial Editor (in charge of business and financial coverage).
In 2000, he became editorial director of the online financial analysis service Quest, owned by the financial firm, Collins Stewart. At the same time, he became a contributing editor of The Spectator
and a weekly columnist for the Daily Telegraph In 2001 he switched allegiance from the Telegraph to the Sunday Times, where he wrote a weekly business profile, Peston's People, and left The Spectator for the New Statesman
, where he wrote a weekly column.
In 2002 he joined The Sunday Telegraph as City editor and assistant editor. He became associate editor in 2005.
In late 2005, it was announced that Peston would succeed Jeff Randall as BBC Business Editor, responsible for business and City coverage on the corporation's flagship TV and radio news programmes, the BBC News Channel, its website
and on Radio 4's
Today
.
While no impropriety on the part of Peston was implied, it was claimed in The Observer on 19 October 2008 that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could enquire into the source of one of Peston's scoops which, in September 2008 in the fraught atmosphere of the global financial crisis, revealed that merger talks between HBOS
and Lloyds TSB
were at an advanced stage. In the minutes before the broadcast, buyers purchased millions of HBOS shares at the deflated price of 96p; in the hour following it, they could be sold for 215p. The Conservative
MP Greg Hands
had written to the SFO about this.
On 4 February 2009, Peston appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, along with Alex Brummer
(City Editor, Daily Mail
), Lionel Barber
(Editor of the Financial Times
), Simon Jenkins
(Guardian), and Sky News Business Editor Jeff Randall
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".
On 28 August 2009, Peston had a highly publicised row with James Murdoch
, following the latter's MacTaggart lecture. More recently he has repeatedly broken stories relating to New International's involvement with phone hacking at times which were perceived as advantageous to the company, leading to criticisms that he has become a Murdoch stooge.
Peston is the founder of Speakers for Schools, www.speakers4schools.org, a pro-bono education venture to get inspirational speakers, leading figures from business, politics, media, the arts, science, engineering and sports, inter alia, to give talks for free in state schools. Administered in partnership with the charity, the Education and Employers Taskforce, Speakers for Schools already has 400 speakers and launches in October 2011.
's What the Papers Say
award for Investigative Journalist of the Year (1994) and the Wincott Young Financial Journalist of the Year (1986).
At the Royal Television Society
's Television Journalism Awards 2008/09 Peston won both "Specialist Journalist of the Year" and "Television Journalist of the Year" for his coverage of the credit crunch and a string of 'scoops' associated with it. Also, his scoop on Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS won the Royal Television Society's "Scoop of the Year" award. He was voted Best Performer in a Non-Acting Role in the Broadcasting Press Guild's 2009 awards and Business Journalist of the Year in the London Press Club's 2009 awards. In the 2008 Wincott Awards, he won the Broadcaster of the Year Award and he won the online award for his blog.
In 2009, he was named Political Journalist of the Year in the Political Studies Association Awards, and he topped polls of the general public and journalists carried out by Press Gazette
to find the highest rated finance and business journalist.
Peston's scoop on Northern Rock seeking emergency financial help from the Bank of England won the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Award for Scoop of the Year in the 2007/8 awards and the Wincott Award for Business News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year. He was Journalist of the Year in the Business Journalism of the Year Awards for 2007/08, and also won in the Scoop category.
Peston won the Work Foundation
's Broadcast News Journalism Award and the Foundation's Radio Programme of the Year Award (for his File on 4
, "The Inside Story of Northern Rock"). His blog won the digital media category in the Private Equity and Venture Capital Journalist of the Year Awards.
, for example, brands his style "ragged and querulous", and more recently "rambling" and "excruciatingly hard to listen to". The Telegraph
identifies "strangulated diction" and "repetition of small words" among his traits; in the same article, though maintaining he is "loads better than [he] was", Peston himself concedes he is "still not as polished as some". His characteristic mannerisms have been particularly well-observed by impressionist Rory Bremner
.
Peston has stated "I am not going to endeavour to become somebody hugely smooth and polished."
and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair
. Brown's Britain was described by then Sir Howard Davies
, director of the London School of Economics
, as "a book of unusual political significance". The fly cover of the book describes how "Peston was given unprecedented access to Gordon Brown and his friends and colleagues". Telling Brown's side of the Blair/Brown power struggle, it is believed that Peston has used the relationship then built up with Brown for many of his later financial news story "scoops" at the BBC.
In February 2008, Hodder & Stoughton published Peston's latest book, Who Runs Britain? How the Super-Rich are Changing our Lives. In The Guardian
, Polly Toynbee
said of it: "Reading Peston's book, you can only be flabbergasted all over again at how Labour kowtowed to wealth, glorified the City and put all the nation's economic eggs into one dangerous basket of fizzy finance."
Peston supports the British charity Common Purpose UK
. Peston and the CEO of Common Purpose, Julia Middleton
are also both members of The Media Standards Trust.
In an article in the New Statesman
, Peston said of Julia Middleton
:
Having Jewish ancestry and family Peston describes himself as "culturally Jewish".
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
. He became known to a wider public with his reporting of the late-2000s financial crisis
Late-2000s financial crisis
The late-2000s financial crisis is considered by many economists to be the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s...
, especially with his scoop on the Northern Rock crisis
Nationalisation of Northern Rock
In 2008 the Northern Rock bank was nationalised by the British Government, due to financial problems caused by the subprime mortgage crisis...
.
Early life and education
Peston is the son of economist and later LabourLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
Maurice Peston
Maurice Peston, Baron Peston of Mile End
Maurice Harry Peston, Baron Peston , is an English economist and parliamentarian. His research interests include macroeconomic policy and the economics of education.-Personal:...
and his NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
-employee wife. The couple believed passionately in state education, and sent Peston to the local comprehensive school
Comprehensive school
A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...
, Highgate Wood Secondary School
Highgate Wood Secondary School
Highgate Wood School Arts College is a secondary school located in Crouch End in the North London borough of Haringey. It accommodates pupils aged 11–16, providing secondary education to 1368 pupils. The school also has a sixth form . It has partnerships with Sport England, the Haymarket Theatre...
, in Crouch End
Crouch End
Crouch End is an area of north London, in the London Borough of Haringey.- Location :Crouch End is in a valley between Harringay to the east, Hornsey, Muswell Hill and Wood Green to the north, Finsbury Park and Archway to the south and Highgate to the west...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. Peston graduated from Balliol College
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
in 1982, and then studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles
Université Libre de Bruxelles
The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...
after winning a scholarship.
Career
Peston briefly worked at stockbroker Williams de Broë, before he became a journalist in 1983 for the Investors ChronicleInvestors Chronicle
The Investors Chronicle is a weekly magazine in the United Kingdom for private investors and is published by the Financial Times Group. The magazine publishes articles about global markets and sectors, and news on corporate actions such as takeovers and share issues...
and joining The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
newspaper for its launch in 1986. From 1989 to 1990 Peston worked for the short-lived Sunday Correspondent
Sunday Correspondent
The Sunday Correspondent was a shortlived British weekly national broadsheet newspaper. Launched on 17 September 1989, it ceased publication on 25 November 1990. It was edited by Peter Cole....
newspaper as Deputy City Editor, before being appointed City Editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1990.
From 1991 to 2000, he worked for the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
. At the FT, he was - at various times - Political Editor, Banking Editor and head of an investigations unit (which he founded). During his time as Political Editor he memorably fell out with the then Downing Street Press Secretary Alastair Campbell
Alastair Campbell
Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...
who regularly mimicked Peston's habit of flicking back his hair and once responded to a difficult question with the words: "Another question from the Peston school of smartarse journalism." His last position at the FT was Financial Editor (in charge of business and financial coverage).
In 2000, he became editorial director of the online financial analysis service Quest, owned by the financial firm, Collins Stewart. At the same time, he became a contributing editor of The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
and a weekly columnist for the Daily Telegraph In 2001 he switched allegiance from the Telegraph to the Sunday Times, where he wrote a weekly business profile, Peston's People, and left The Spectator for the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, where he wrote a weekly column.
In 2002 he joined The Sunday Telegraph as City editor and assistant editor. He became associate editor in 2005.
In late 2005, it was announced that Peston would succeed Jeff Randall as BBC Business Editor, responsible for business and City coverage on the corporation's flagship TV and radio news programmes, the BBC News Channel, its website
Bbc.co.uk
BBC Online is the brand name and home for the BBC's UK online service. It is a large network of websites including such high profile sites as BBC News and Sport, the on-demand video and radio services co-branded BBC iPlayer, the pre-school site Cbeebies, and learning services such as Bitesize...
and on Radio 4's
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
Today
Today programme
Today is BBC Radio 4's long-running early morning news and current affairs programme, now broadcast from 6.00 am to 9.00 am Monday to Friday, and 7.00 am to 9.00 am on Saturdays. It is also the most popular programme on Radio 4 and one of the BBC's most popular programmes across its radio networks...
.
While no impropriety on the part of Peston was implied, it was claimed in The Observer on 19 October 2008 that the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) could enquire into the source of one of Peston's scoops which, in September 2008 in the fraught atmosphere of the global financial crisis, revealed that merger talks between HBOS
HBOS
HBOS plc is a banking and insurance company in the United Kingdom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Lloyds Banking Group having been taken over in January 2009...
and Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1995 by the merger of Lloyds Bank, established in Birmingham, England in 1765 and traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, with the TSB Group which traces its origins to 1810...
were at an advanced stage. In the minutes before the broadcast, buyers purchased millions of HBOS shares at the deflated price of 96p; in the hour following it, they could be sold for 215p. The Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP Greg Hands
Greg Hands
Gregory William "Greg" Hands, MP is a Conservative Party politician. He is currently the Member of Parliament for Chelsea and Fulham having been elected during the 2010 general election for the newly-created constituency formed with the splitting of the former constituencies of Kensington and...
had written to the SFO about this.
On 4 February 2009, Peston appeared as a witness at the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, along with Alex Brummer
Alex Brummer
Alex Brummer is a veteran economic commentator, working as a British journalist, editor, and author. He has been the City Editor of the Daily Mail since May 2000, where he writes a daily column on economics and finance.He is a regular contributor to the Jewish Chronicle , writing the weekly...
(City Editor, Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...
), Lionel Barber
Lionel Barber
Lionel Barber is an English journalist.Barber was appointed Editor of the Financial Times in November 2005. Previously, he was the Financial Times' U.S. Managing Editor and before that, Editor of the FT's Continental European edition , during which he briefed US President George W. Bush ahead of...
(Editor of the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
), Simon Jenkins
Simon Jenkins
Sir Simon David Jenkins is a British newspaper columnist and author, and since November 2008 has been chairman of the National Trust. He currently writes columns for both The Guardian and London's Evening Standard, and was previously a commentator for The Times, which he edited from 1990 to 1992...
(Guardian), and Sky News Business Editor Jeff Randall
Jeff Randall (journalist)
Jeff William Randall is a journalist, who presents Jeff Randall Live, a business and politics show on Sky News...
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".
On 28 August 2009, Peston had a highly publicised row with James Murdoch
James Murdoch (media executive)
James Rupert Jacob Murdoch is the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and currently serves as chairman and chief executive of News Corporation, Europe, and Asia, overseeing assets such as News International , SKY Italia , Sky Deutschland, and STAR TV .He sits on the News...
, following the latter's MacTaggart lecture. More recently he has repeatedly broken stories relating to New International's involvement with phone hacking at times which were perceived as advantageous to the company, leading to criticisms that he has become a Murdoch stooge.
Peston is the founder of Speakers for Schools, www.speakers4schools.org, a pro-bono education venture to get inspirational speakers, leading figures from business, politics, media, the arts, science, engineering and sports, inter alia, to give talks for free in state schools. Administered in partnership with the charity, the Education and Employers Taskforce, Speakers for Schools already has 400 speakers and launches in October 2011.
Awards
Peston is a past winner of the Harold Wincott Senior Financial Journalist of the Year Award (2005), the London Press Club's Scoop of the Year Award (2005), Granada TelevisionGranada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
's What the Papers Say
What the Papers Say
What The Papers Say is a BBC radio programme that originally ran for many years on British television.Its first incarnation was the second longest-running programme on British television after Panorama...
award for Investigative Journalist of the Year (1994) and the Wincott Young Financial Journalist of the Year (1986).
At the Royal Television Society
Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
's Television Journalism Awards 2008/09 Peston won both "Specialist Journalist of the Year" and "Television Journalist of the Year" for his coverage of the credit crunch and a string of 'scoops' associated with it. Also, his scoop on Lloyds TSB's takeover of HBOS won the Royal Television Society's "Scoop of the Year" award. He was voted Best Performer in a Non-Acting Role in the Broadcasting Press Guild's 2009 awards and Business Journalist of the Year in the London Press Club's 2009 awards. In the 2008 Wincott Awards, he won the Broadcaster of the Year Award and he won the online award for his blog.
In 2009, he was named Political Journalist of the Year in the Political Studies Association Awards, and he topped polls of the general public and journalists carried out by Press Gazette
Press Gazette
Press Gazette, formerly known as UK Press Gazette , is a British media trade magazine dedicated to journalism and the press. It was first published in 1965, and currently has a circulation of about 2,500, although it had enjoyed higher circulations earlier in its history...
to find the highest rated finance and business journalist.
Peston's scoop on Northern Rock seeking emergency financial help from the Bank of England won the Royal Television Society's Television Journalism Award for Scoop of the Year in the 2007/8 awards and the Wincott Award for Business News/Current Affairs Programme of the Year. He was Journalist of the Year in the Business Journalism of the Year Awards for 2007/08, and also won in the Scoop category.
Peston won the Work Foundation
The Work Foundation
The Work Foundation is a British not-for-profit organisation and independent authority providing advice, consultancy and research on the future of work, improving the quality of working life, leadership, economic and organisational effectiveness. The foundation works with government, business...
's Broadcast News Journalism Award and the Foundation's Radio Programme of the Year Award (for his File on 4
File on 4
File on 4 is a current-affairs radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It is produced in Manchester by the BBC's Radio Current Affairs department, and has won more than 40 awards.- External links :* *...
, "The Inside Story of Northern Rock"). His blog won the digital media category in the Private Equity and Venture Capital Journalist of the Year Awards.
Delivery style
In spite of his accolades, the transition from print media has been difficult for Peston, and his curious delivery on radio and television news has attracted criticism from diverse sources. The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, for example, brands his style "ragged and querulous", and more recently "rambling" and "excruciatingly hard to listen to". The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
identifies "strangulated diction" and "repetition of small words" among his traits; in the same article, though maintaining he is "loads better than [he] was", Peston himself concedes he is "still not as polished as some". His characteristic mannerisms have been particularly well-observed by impressionist Rory Bremner
Rory Bremner
Roderick "Rory" Keith Ogilvy Bremner, FKC is a Scottish impressionist, playwright and comedian, noted for his work in political satire...
.
Peston has stated "I am not going to endeavour to become somebody hugely smooth and polished."
Books
Peston published his biography of Gordon Brown Brown's Britain in January 2005, which details the rivalry between Gordon BrownGordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
and the then Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
. Brown's Britain was described by then Sir Howard Davies
Howard Davies (LSE)
Sir Howard Davies is a British economist. Davies served as Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science from 2003 to May 2011, having decided to resign from the position on 3 March 2011 following concern over the institution's decision to accept funding from a foundation...
, director of the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, as "a book of unusual political significance". The fly cover of the book describes how "Peston was given unprecedented access to Gordon Brown and his friends and colleagues". Telling Brown's side of the Blair/Brown power struggle, it is believed that Peston has used the relationship then built up with Brown for many of his later financial news story "scoops" at the BBC.
In February 2008, Hodder & Stoughton published Peston's latest book, Who Runs Britain? How the Super-Rich are Changing our Lives. In The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, Polly Toynbee
Polly Toynbee
Polly Toynbee is a British journalist and writer, and has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998. She is a social democrat and broadly supports the Labour Party, while urging it in many areas to be more left-wing...
said of it: "Reading Peston's book, you can only be flabbergasted all over again at how Labour kowtowed to wealth, glorified the City and put all the nation's economic eggs into one dangerous basket of fizzy finance."
Personal life
Peston is married to the writer Sian Busby, writer of a book about the warrior queen Boudicca, and a historical thriller novel McNaughten. The couple have two sons. Peston relaxes by listening to his collection of 500 singles from the 1970s. He is also an avid artist and enjoys painting scenes of ocean settings and wild animals. He supports Arsenal F.C.Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
Peston supports the British charity Common Purpose UK
Common Purpose UK
Common Purpose UK is a British charity that runs leadership development programmes across the UK.Founded in 1989 by its current Chief Executive, Julia Middleton, its aim is to improve the way organisations and society work together by developing all kinds of leaders through a programme of diverse...
. Peston and the CEO of Common Purpose, Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Common Purpose UK, a British charity that runs leadership development programmes across the UK.She is a campaigner for the progression of diverse leaders in civil society....
are also both members of The Media Standards Trust.
In an article in the New Statesman
New Statesman
New Statesman is a British centre-left political and cultural magazine published weekly in London. Founded in 1913, and connected with leading members of the Fabian Society, the magazine reached a circulation peak in the late 1960s....
, Peston said of Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton
Julia Middleton is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Common Purpose UK, a British charity that runs leadership development programmes across the UK.She is a campaigner for the progression of diverse leaders in civil society....
:
- “One of Middleton's great skills is to persuade police constables, youth group organisers, permanent secretaries, FTSE chief executives and head teachers that they can learn from each other and could even cure some of society's ills.”
Having Jewish ancestry and family Peston describes himself as "culturally Jewish".