Rob Burley
Born1969 (age 54–55)[1]
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of Nottingham
OccupationTelevision producer
Employer(s)BBC (formerly)
Global
Notable workThe Andrew Marr Show
Politics Live
The Andrew Neil Show
Newscast
Newswatch
The Westminster Hour

Rob Burley (born 1969) is an English television producer, formerly the BBC's editor of live political programmes. He was the editor of The Andrew Marr Show, Politics Live, Newscast on television, Newswatch and The Westminster Hour.

Early and personal life

Burley grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and was interested in politics from a young age. He obtained a degree in American studies from the University of Nottingham.[2]

Burley lives in Brighton.[1] He is a supporter of Liverpool F.C.[1]

Burley contracted COVID-19 in March 2022.[3]

Career

He began his career as a researcher for the Labour Party member of Parliament Paul Flynn. He joined ITV in 1996 and rose to become editor of its political shows The Sunday Edition and Jonathan Dimbleby. He also worked on Tonight, hosted by Trevor McDonald.[2] He joined the BBC in 2008[4] and became executive editor of Question Time, deputy editor of Newsnight and assistant editor of BBC Breakfast. In 2018, he became the BBC's editor of live political programmes,[5] succeeding Robbie Gibb. The role was based in Westminster and led Burley to take responsibility for the programmes Daily Politics, Sunday Politics, This Week, The Westminster Hour and Newswatch.[6] When Daily Politics ended in 2018, Burley became editor of Politics Live, and later editor of The Andrew Neil Show and executive producer of the podcast Brexitcast on television.

The first episode of Politics Live generated criticism online because it featured a panel of five women. Burley said he had "zero shame" about the episode and that they had "invited people and they said yes and then we realised our best line-up was all female".[7]

Following a November 2019 edition of Question Time, claims arose that a Brexit and Boris Johnson supporter in the show's audience was Burley's son. The fact-checking organisation Full Fact said that the false claim originated from a spoof Twitter account. The audience member's real identity was revealed to be a 19-year-old Conservative Party member, Layton J. Smith.[8]

Brexitcast was renamed Newscast after the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union on 31 January 2020. The final edition of Brexitcast was released on 1 February 2020, with the first edition of Newscast airing on 6 February.

Burley's role of editor of live political programmes was closed by the BBC in 2021.[9]

In 2021, HarperCollins secured Burley's book, Why is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?, due to be published in February 2023. In it, he humorously describes his experiences with British politicians and focuses on 12 political interviews over a 25-year period.[10]

In 2022, Burley joined Global as executive editor of Andrew Marr's LBC programme Tonight with Andrew Marr.[11]


Bibliography

  • Why Is This Lying Bastard Lying to Me?: 25 Years of Searching for the Truth on Political TV (HarperCollins, 2023) ISBN 978-0008542481

References

  1. 1 2 3 Walker, James (28 January 2019). "BBC Politics Live boss Rob Burley says balancing every show across political parties would be 'really boring'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  2. 1 2 Blanchard, Paul (18 February 2016). "Rob Burley". Media Masters (Podcast). Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  3. ↑ Burley, Rob [@RobBurl] (18 March 2022). "Covid is weird. Day 5. Felt much better yesterday then exhausted again today. It's not your standard flu" (Tweet). Retrieved 18 March 2022 – via Twitter.
  4. ↑ Simons, Ned (8 July 2017). "The Editor Of The Andrew Marr Show's Weekly One Man Twitter Battle Against Accusations Of BBC Bias". HuffPost UK. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Amy (15 February 2018). "Rob Burley named Editor of Live Political Programmes at the BBC". ResponseSource. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  6. ↑ Kakar, Arun (14 February 2018). "Andrew Marr editor to head up live political programmes at BBC as Victoria Derbyshire editor leaves for Channel 4 Dispatches". Press Gazette. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  7. ↑ Lyons, Kate (4 September 2018). "'Zero shame': Politics Live editor defends all-female line-up on new BBC show". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  8. ↑ Mayhew, Freddy (6 November 2019). "Claim Question Time put BBC editor's son in audience as Brexit supporter debunked as hoax". Press Gazette. Retrieved 7 December 2019.
  9. ↑ Tobitt, Charlotte (19 March 2021). "Some 550 BBC jobs closed or moved as news shifts away from London". Press Gazette. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  10. ↑ Warner, Isobel (17 December 2021). "HarperCollins takes debut from ex-BBC politics editor Burley". The Bookseller. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  11. ↑ Farber, Alex (24 February 2022). "Rob Burley reunited with Andrew Marr at LBC". Broadcast. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
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