John Pienaar was the BBC’s Deputy Political Editor and presenter of the weekly
Westminster round-up Pienaar’s Politics on Radio 5Live. A seasoned reporter, he
sees his job as beating a path through the forest of Government spin, a role he
maintains for Times Radio. Ever since his original, often controversial
parliamentary sketch for The Independent, he has acted as tour guide and
translator of goings-on in the Westminster village.
Prior to spending almost three decades at the BBC, John originally trained at
South London Press, covering whatever was occurring on his doorstep – be it street
crime, domestic violence, sex, drugs or rock’n’roll. He then became an Old Bailey
Correspondent and even wrote an angling column (without ever having held a
fishing rod).
Instantly recognisable to television news audiences, John has spent hundreds of
hours standing in the rain outside 10 Downing Street. He was also invited to take
part in a celebrity boxing show, only for it to be cancelled for fear that someone
might get hurt. Picking up this theme in his after dinner speech, John imagines
what would happen if the public were to vote for MPs by means of a reality TV
show.
