[1] He was educated at Bodmin Grammar School and then studied for a BA in history at University College London.

[3] He became the newspaper's political editor in 1990, succeeding Ian Aitken;[4] he relinquished the position to Patrick Wintour at the beginning of 2006.

He has also appeared on BBC Radio 4, introducing a programme on political insults, Savaged by a Dead Sheep.

"It is no secret in the office, for example, that I think its coverage of the protracted crisis over Iraq since 2003, has not always been fair to Blair's position", he wrote.

[9] Regarding the Israel–Palestine conflict, in July 2006 he wrote that over time his sympathies are shifting back to Israel "however short-sighted and self-defeating some of its actions are".