Steve Richards

Steve Richards’ background

Having covered politics for over 20 years for the BBC, various print titles, and as The Independent’s Chief Political Commentator, Steve examines events in Westminster with wit and an insider’s knowledge. As with his successful Rock N Roll Politics stage show (and podcast) he pokes fun at the key figures, plots and misunderstandings whilst also defending politicians and the near-impossible job they have to do.

The Independent’s chief political commentator for over ten years, Steve has regularly appeared as panellist with Andrew Neil on BBC One’s Sunday Politics and This Week. He’s presented Radio 4’s Week in Westminster and What The Papers Say, and hosted the station’s political quiz Parliamentary Questions. He has fronted GMTV’s Sunday Programme and BBC2’s Despatch Box, has been a regular on BBC News Channel’s Head 2 Head, and has written and presented documentaries on Tony Blair, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, and Ed Miliband.

Before joining The Independent Steve started out in regional journalism and broadcasting followed by five years as a BBC Political Correspondent and then serving as Political Editor of the New Statesman. As well as The Independent and its Sunday sister, he has also written for the Evening Standard, The Spectator and The Guardian.

In addition to journalism and broadcasting, Steve has written The Rise of the Outsiders: How Mainstream Politics Lost its Way, a timely examination of how what were the extremes and fringes of politics have gradually gained influence. He also wrote Whatever it Takes an acclaimed, critical insight into the strange world of the Gordon Brown government. He has toured the country with his widely praised one-man Edinburgh Fringe show, Rock N Roll Politics. The show, and it’s successful podcast incarnation, is a comedic tour around Westminster, the key players and behind-the-scenes events, but also an ‘anti-satire’ defence of politics and politicians.

As a columnist and presenter Steve has interviewed all the major political figures in Britain over two decades and many of his interviews have made front-page news stories. He takes a wry but informed look at the nation’s and the world’s leaders, sharing political gossip, revealing the plots and intrigues, and throwing in a few choice impressions along the way.