He is the author of several historical and investigative books, including Stiff Upper Lip: Secrets, Crimes and the Schooling of a Ruling Class (2017) and Blood Legacy: Reckoning With a Family's Story of Slavery (2021).
As a journalist Renton has held staff jobs as a reporter and editor on British newspapers The Independent and the London Evening Standard.
[8][9] In 2022, he co-wrote (with Caitlin Smith) and presented a BBC Radio 4 series, In Dark Corners, about abuse and cover-up at some of Britain's elite schools, including Eton College, Fettes College, Gordonstoun and its junior school.
[11] Renton's book Blood Legacy, an account of his ancestors' involvement in the Atlantic slave trade and plantation slavery in the Caribbean, was long-listed for the Baillie Gifford Prize for non-fiction in 2021.
[23] The group has called on the British Prime Minister and King Charles to make a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom.