Nick Robinson

His mother was born in Shanghai, to where her German-Jewish parents had fled during the 1930s.

His father was of English background.

His parents first met at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, and married three months later.

Robinson was interested in political journalism from the age of eight.

He was educated at Cheadle Hulme School and University College, Oxford, where he read Philosophy, Politics and Economics.

Nicholas Anthony Robinson (born 5 October 1963) is a British journalist, currently a presenter on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

Prior to this he spent ten years as political editor for BBC News and has had many other roles with the broadcaster.

Robinson was interested in politics from an early age.

He studied philosophy, politics and economics at the University of Oxford, where he was also president of the Oxford University Conservative Association.

Robinson was born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, on 5 October 1963, to a translator mother and a sales director father.

Whilst travelling in Europe in 1982, he survived a car crash in Lille, France, in which the car, a two-door Volkswagen Beetle, exploded; his friends James Nelson and Will Redhead (son of Brian Redhead, an earlier presenter of Today on BBC Radio 4) were killed.

Robinson was "severely burned", spent five weeks in hospital and had to defer his university place.

Brian Redhead became Robinson's mentor, and later encouraged his career in political journalism, giving him a copy of Tony Benn's Arguments for Socialism for his birthday.

However, Robinson's early political affiliations were to the right.

Robinson was a founder-member of Macclesfield Young Conservatives (YC) and rose through the ranks, becoming Cheshire YC Chairman from 1982 to 1984 and became a key activist in the moderate-controlled North West Area organisation.

Philip Pedley, as National YC Chairman, co-opted Robinson onto the YC National Advisory Committee in 1983 and appointed him National Campaign Director of Youth for Multilateral Disarmament.

Robinson was elected National Vice Chairman from 1985 to 1987 and succeeded a fellow moderate, Richard Fuller, when Robinson was elected Chairman of the National Young Conservatives on the moderate ticket against strong right-wing opposition (1987–1988).

At university he was President of the Oxford University Conservative Association in 1985.

Robinson's first position in broadcasting was at Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, which he took up while recovering from his injuries.

He joined the BBC in 1986 as a production trainee, and later worked extensively as a television and radio producer for a variety of shows including Newsround and Crimewatch.

He then became an assistant producer for On the Record, and in 1993 was promoted to deputy editor of Panorama, a position he held for three years.

In 1995, whilst Robinson was at Panorama, he wrote an internal BBC memorandum questioning how an interview with Prime Minister John Major could be defended in the run-up to the Scottish local elections.

When leaked, this gained attention from the Labour Party, which perceived it as the legitimised denial of equal time in the run-up to local elections.

Starting out in broadcasting at Piccadilly Radio, after a year as president of the Conservative Party youth group, he worked his way up as a producer, eventually becoming deputy editor of Panorama before becoming a political correspondent in 1996.

In 1996 he became a political correspondent, presenting Weekend Breakfast and Late Night Live on BBC Radio 5 Live, and in 1997 he covered the general election for BBC Radio.

Robinson became the BBC's chief political correspondent in 1999.

In October 1999 he became BBC News 24's chief political correspondent, and also presented Westminster Live.

In the run-up to the 2001 general election, Robinson started keeping a daily diary of the campaign.

Entitled The Campaign Today, it later became Newslog, and continued to be updated until Robinson left the BBC.

Between 2002 and 2005, he worked for ITV News as political editor but then returned to the BBC assuming the same role.

Known for his confrontational and provocative approach, Robinson has on several occasions caused a stir with his style of questioning, particularly of national leaders such as George W. Bush.

He has presented programmes such as Westminster Live, Weekend Breakfast and Late Night Live on BBC Radio 5 Live, and Newsnight on BBC Two.

Robinson left the BBC in 2002 to join Independent Television News (ITN) as the political editor of ITV News.

Tom Bradby, who later succeeded him in the role, described the appointment as "bold, imaginative and instantly successful".

When he returned in 2005 he began a new blog with the same name.

Robinson stayed with ITN for three years, and caused a major stir early in the 2005 general election campaign, when a Labour Party poster was unveiled.

The poster claimed the Conservative Party would initiate cuts of £35 billion to public services if elected; Robinson challenged Prime Minister Tony Blair, claiming the poster was misleading, which forced Blair to admit the £35 billion figure was "disingenuous".

Later on in the election campaign, Labour announced that Tony Blair would be making "the most important speech of the campaign" on immigration, with a specially invited audience.

Robinson asked Blair why there were only white people in the audience, and Blair pointed out a single Asian man to disprove Robinson.

Later, Robinson stated: "We know that the big two parties carefully select audiences to give a particular appearance. Is it a great controversy to point this out? That's informing the audience."