After serving as BBC North America Editor, Justin Webb joined the team of
presenters on Radio 4’s influential Today programme. He now interviews the great
and the good and those making the day’s headlines - alongside Mishal Husain,
Martha Kearney, Amol Rajan and Nick Robinson.
In the US Justin covered all the twists and turns of the 2008 Presidential election
which saw a little-known Illinois senator become the country’s first black
Commander-in-Chief. Justin continues to observe the American political, social,
and economic climate, assessing the often-dramatic events on Capitol Hill, Wall
Street and Main Street. As well as becoming a senior member of the White House
press pack, he was the first British journalist to be granted a full television
interview with President Obama.
Prior to his Washington posting Justin reported from Brussels as the BBC’s
European Correspondent. He has also covered elections in Australia, a coup in the
Maldives, the dying days of the Soviet empire, and Mafia trials in Italy. And as well
as various overseas postings, he has anchored Breakfast News and The World
Tonight.
Justin now spends his mornings grilling British politicians and newsmakers on the
agenda-setting Radio 4 programme. He’s also an extremely assured conference
chair and awards host, and a wonderfully engaging speaker on everything from
Brexit to Trump. After dinner he uncovers the truth about America and Americans
(as in his books Have A Nice Day and Notes on Them and Us) – and has great fun
demonstrating some of the differences in interviewing styles between ‘Old’ and
‘New World’ journalists. He has also published a memoir of the nineteen seventies
entitled The Gift of a Radio, which the Sunday Times called 'fascinating and hugely
entertaining.'
