Live From Downing Street

Revised and updated with new material for this paperback edition

Sharp-witted, full of surprises and with a great sense of history, Nick Robinson pulls back the curtain on an essential part of the democratic story. For everyone who wants to know more about the long, and sometimes hilarious, mud-wrestle between power and the media - and about the man behind the glasses - this is a must.

Canny, plain-speaking and fair, Nick Robinson writes as the penetrating insider he is.

Nick Robinson skips lightly through the great battles between Downing Street and the broadcast media... a fun, well-paced account

[Robinson] comes across much as he does on television or radio: never at a loss and able to deliver not just the news, but a definitive judgment on it

Nick Robinson studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at Oxford before joining the BBC in 1986. After a decade working behind the cameras – as a producer on programmes ranging from Crimewatch to On the Record and Panorama – he became a reporter and presenter. He is the only person to have been Political Editor of both ITV News and now BBC News – a job he has held since August 2005. As well as appearing on TV and radio he writes an award winning blog. Nick lives in North London with his wife and three children.

The relationship between politicians and broadcasters has always been fraught with tension. Today, every word and act of those who wield power is instantly broadcast and dissected on 24-hour rolling news channels, blogs and Twitter. But in the past, broadcasters were banned by law from debating anything newsworthy and Parliament imprisoned those who dared to report what MPs had said. Since that censorship ended, the two sides have clashed repeatedly. 
 
Live From Downing Street takes us on an absorbing journey through the history of this power struggle, dwelling in fascinating detail on the charismatic key players from radio and television – the Dimblebys, Day, Frost, Walden, Paxman, Humphrys – and those who fought back – Churchill, Wilson, Thatcher and Blair. As the BBC’s Political Editor, Nick Robinson is uniquely placed to add his own perceptive insights into the controversial issue of impartial reporting, providing a colourful and gripping account of the hard-fought battles for the right to tell the public about the decisions taken on their behalf.

Nick Robinson

A candid, moving and gripping psychological rollercoaster of hopes and fears ... peppers with incisive observations ... Don't buy this book because you feel sorry for Nick Robinson. He wouldn't want that. Buy it because it's a cracking read.

Mischievous. Moving. Marvellously indiscreet ... the Must-Read Book of the Year

Terrific stuff in Nick Robinson's instant memoir of recent history

Jane Martinson, Head of Media at the Guardian

A terrific book, literally unputdownable. It merges two genres - personal and political - without a seam in sight and kept me engrossed on every page. One of the best political books I've ever read.

[Nick] manages to convey the excitement of a moving political story while keeping a sense of perspective ... His account of battling with illness while trying to report on a general election is extremely moving.

The Inside Story Of The Battle Over Britain’s Future And My Personal Battle To Report It

Just after ten o’clock on Thursday, 7 May 2015 Nick Robinson stared down the lens of camera 5 in the BBC’s Election Night Studio to explain to millions the significance of an exit poll that shocked the country and heralded an earthquake in British politics. 
 
That moment was a personal milestone for the BBC’s Political Editor, who had been discharged from hospital just hours earlier following weeks of treatment for cancer and the loss of his voice after surgery. 
 
In the year leading up to that night Nick kept a journal recording the events he reported on day after day to millions of viewers and listeners, and which he continued to monitor, often from his hospital bed as he fought to get fit in time for election night. This is Nick‘s behind-the-scenes account of his encounters with David Cameron, who many wrote off before the shock victory he called his 'sweetest'; Ed Miliband, who turned abuse &amp; ridicule into respect before leading Labour to its worst defeat in a generation; Nick Clegg, who led his party into power and then to humiliation and near oblivion; Nigel Farage, who rose so fast and then fell at the final hurdle; Alex Salmond, whose public clash with Nick led to thousands protesting outside the BBC’s Scottish HQ, and Nicola Sturgeon, whose stunning success as SNP leader has put Scottish independence back on the map. 
 
The result is an extraordinary narrative, characterized by Nick Robinson’s trademark insight, analysis and backstage gossip, of an adrenaline-fuelled year which culminated in a captivating election that transformed Britain’s political landscape.

Nick Robinson

Praise for Election Notebook

A candid, moving and gripping psychological rollercoaster of hopes and fears ... peppers with incisive observations ... Don't buy this book because you feel sorry for Nick Robinson. He wouldn't want that. Buy it bec ...

Mischievous. Moving. Marvellously indiscreet ... the Must-Read Book of the Year

Funny, crackling and moving

A candid, moving and gripping psychological rollercoaster of hopes and fears ... peppers with incisive observations ... Don't buy this book because you feel sorry for Nick Robinson. He wouldn't want that. Buy it bec ...

Mischievous. Moving. Marvellously indiscreet ... the Must-Read Book of the Year

Funny, crackling and moving

A candid, moving and gripping psychological rollercoaster of hopes and fears ... peppers with incisive observations ... Don't buy this book because you feel sorry for Nick Robinson. He wouldn't want that. Buy it bec ...

Mischievous. Moving. Marvellously indiscreet ... the Must-Read Book of the Year

Funny, crackling and moving

Books by Nick Robinson

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