Andrew Marr

Why organisations work with Andrew Marr

• Direct line of sight into Westminster and Whitehall built across forty years of political reporting, including five years as BBC Political Editor and sixteen years presenting the BBC One Sunday political programme.
• Historical context most political commentators cannot offer. His BBC One series and accompanying books on modern Britain, the making of modern Britain and the Elizabethan era are the standard popular references for how the British state and economy got to where they are.
• Non-partisan, on-the-record reading of UK politics that can be quoted in front of clients, regulators and international visitors. Marr has interviewed every recent UK prime minister and most senior cabinet figures.
• Working journalist, not a retired one. Political Editor of the New Statesman and presenter of Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, so the analysis is current to the week of the event.
• Equally effective as keynote speaker, interviewer and moderator. The same craft that drove fifteen years of Sunday political interviews carries into corporate fireside formats and on-stage conversation with senior leaders.

Biography highlights

• BBC Political Editor, 2000 to 2005.
• Editor of The Independent, 1996 to 1998. Political Editor of The Independent before that.
• Presented The Andrew Marr Show on BBC One from 2005 to December 2021.
• Political Editor and columnist at the New Statesman, since February 2022.
• Presents Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC and a current affairs show on Classic FM.
• Author of A History of Modern Britain, The Making of Modern Britain, A History of the World, The Diamond Queen, and Elizabethans. Companion BBC documentary series accompanied most of them.
• BAFTA Richard Dimbleby Award (2004), British Press Awards Columnist of the Year (1995), Royal Television Society Best Presenter (2008), RTS Scotland Current Affairs Award (2017).
• Read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, first class honours.

Biography

British politics has rarely moved at a pace this difficult for boards and senior leaders to track. Election cycles, fiscal reversals, the state’s relationship with business, and Britain’s position in the world are all in motion at once. Reading the signal underneath the noise is now part of corporate planning, not an adjacent interest.

That is the contribution Andrew Marr brings to a corporate audience. As BBC Political Editor from 2000 to 2005, and then as presenter of the BBC One Sunday political programme for sixteen years, he interviewed every recent UK prime minister and most senior cabinet figures across two decades of British government. Few broadcasters have that continuity of access.

The historical work is what separates him from other political commentators. A History of Modern Britain, The Making of Modern Britain, and Elizabethans, each a Sunday Times bestseller with a major BBC television series alongside it, gave a generation of British readers their working picture of how the country got from 1945 to now. The BBC series for A History of Modern Britain won a BAFTA.

He left the BBC at the end of 2021 and now writes as Political Editor of the New Statesman, presents Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, and a current affairs programme on Classic FM. The journalism is current to the week. Awards include the BAFTA Richard Dimbleby (2004), British Press Awards Columnist of the Year (1995), and Royal Television Society Best Presenter (2008). He read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, with first class honours.

Key speaking topics

• UK politics and Westminster
• British government and policy
• Modern British history and national identity
• UK economic policy and the state
• Elections and the political cycle
• Media and public life
• Scotland and the union

Ideal for

• Boards and executive committees of UK and international businesses with material UK exposure
• Senior partner and client events for professional services firms hosting clients on UK affairs
• Annual conferences and leadership offsites seeking a credible on-the-record political read
• Event organisers needing a senior moderator or interviewer for political and economic sessions

Audience outcomes

• A clear, non-partisan read on where UK politics is heading in the next political cycle
• Historical context for current political and economic shifts, traced back to identifiable turning points in post-war Britain
• An informed sense of how Westminster, Whitehall and the Treasury actually interact on the issues that matter to business
• A sharper picture of the UK’s standing internationally and what that means for British operations and investment