Robin Francis Leigh Oakley OBE (born 20 August 1941) is a British journalist. From 1992 to 2000 he was political editor at the BBC and from 2000 to 2008 he was European political editor at CNN International. He is from Kidderminster in Worcestershire.

Robin Oakley
Born
Robert Francis Leigh Oakley[citation needed]

(1941-08-20) 20 August 1941 (age 83)
United Kingdom
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • broadcaster
TitlePolitical editor of BBC News (1992–2000)
European political editor of CNN International (2000–2008)
Signature

Early life

edit

Oakley was educated at Wellington College, Berkshire, and Brasenose College, Oxford.

Career

edit

He started his career on the Liverpool Daily Post where he became political editor. He was then the Crossbencher columnist and assistant editor on The Sunday Express and was assistant editor of the Daily Mail from 1981 to 1986. Between 1986 and 1992, he was a columnist and political editor for The Times. He then moved to the BBC, where he was political editor between 1992 and 2000. During this period he regularly presented political news items on BBC television news. His predecessor as BBC political editor was John Cole.

Oakley was succeeded as political editor in summer 2000 by Andrew Marr,[1] despite having intended to remain at the BBC to cover the upcoming general election.[2] After leaving the BBC, Oakley became CNN International's European political editor. He is also an expert in horse racing, and has written the Turf column in The Spectator since 1994, as well as being the racing correspondent of the Financial Times for several years.

Author

edit

His 2000 book Valley of The Racehorse is about the racing community in the Lambourn valley. His 2001 book Inside Track is based on his experiences as a political journalist.

Honours

edit

He was awarded an Order of the British Empire in 2001 for his services to political journalism.[3]

Bibliography

edit
  • Oakley, Robin (2000). Valley of the racehorse.
  • — (2001). Inside track.
  • — (4 October 2008). "Team tactics". The Spectator. 308 (9397): 57. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Robin Oakley retires early from the BBC". BBC News. 13 May 2000. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  2. ^ Vasagar, Jeevan (20 May 2000). "Now I know what it's like to be reshuffled, says Oakley". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  3. ^ Oakley, Robin (22 May 2005). "My Life In Media". The Independent (Interview).
edit
Media offices
Preceded by Political editor of BBC News
1992–2000
Succeeded by
Preceded by
European political editor of CNN International
2000–2008
Succeeded by