Starting out in broadcasting at Piccadilly Radio, after a year as president of the Conservative Party youth group, he worked his way up as a producer, eventually becoming deputy editor of Panorama before becoming a political correspondent in 1996.

Known for his confrontational and provocative approach, Robinson has on several occasions caused a stir with his style of questioning, particularly of national leaders such as George W. Bush.

[6] Brian Redhead became Robinson's mentor, and later encouraged his career in political journalism, giving him a copy of Tony Benn's Arguments for Socialism for his birthday.

[6] He joined the BBC in 1986 as a production trainee, and later worked extensively as a television and radio producer for a variety of shows including Newsround and Crimewatch.

[5] In 1995, whilst Robinson was at Panorama, he wrote an internal BBC memorandum questioning how an interview with Prime Minister John Major could be defended in the run-up to the Scottish local elections.

[5] Robinson stayed with ITN for three years, and caused a major stir early in the 2005 general election campaign, when a Labour Party poster was unveiled.

On election night, Robinson joined presenters Jonathan Dimbleby and Alastair Stewart to reveal the results with political analysis.

[12] Robinson left ITN and was appointed as the BBC political editor in preference to Martha Kearney in August 2005, replacing Andrew Marr.

During Tony Blair's visit to Israel in 2006 to discuss the Lebanon War, journalists were asked not to bring up the ongoing rift with Gordon Brown.

[16] Another post, dated 25 February 2008, criticised MPs defending Michael Martin against allegations of the misuse of expenses,[17] which caused controversy in parliament.

[24] It was announced on 9 July 2015 that, beginning that autumn, Robinson would become a presenter on the early morning BBC Radio 4 programme Today, taking over from James Naughtie.

[25] On 5 February 2019, Robinson co-hosted the live final of BBC Two's Icons: The Greatest Person of the 20th Century alongside Claudia Winkleman.

[12] Bias was claimed particularly in the coverage of the 2010 general election; a Facebook group titled "Nick Robinson should not be the BBC's political editor" was set up in August 2010.

[29] In a 2005 interview with David Rowan, the UK editor of Wired News, Robinson insisted "that his involvement [with the Conservatives] ceased twenty years ago".

[12] On 20 October 2010, following a live BBC News at Six report outside Parliament covering the 2010 Spending Review, Robinson silently took the anti-war, anti-cuts placard that had been waved directly behind him throughout, broke it in two and stamped on it.

However, as I explained afterwards to the protesters who disrupted my broadcast, there are many opportunities to debate whether the troops should be out of Afghanistan without the need to stick a sign on a long pole and wave it in front of a camera".

[31] Some days later, Robinson read out a jokingly ambiguous "letter of apology" on the comedy panel show Have I Got News for You, broadcast on 4 November 2010.

The previous day Robinson had reported that Lloyds Bank and RBS would be moving their registered offices from Scotland to London in the event of a "Yes" vote.

[36] In the exchange[37] Robinson asked Salmond two questions: the first about the economic impact of RBS moving its headquarters; the second, more general, about why to trust a politician when CEO's of certain companies advised against independence.

[39] The BBC received complaints from viewers over the implication that Salmond had not answered a question put to him; there was a protest in Glasgow, in which between 1000 and 2000 protestors called for Robinson to be sacked.

[43] In October 2019, Robinson was accused by Douglas Murray of entrapping him during the Today programme by raising a headline to an article of his from two years earlier.

[5] In early 2015 Robinson underwent surgery to remove a bronchial carcinoid tumour; he returned to work at the BBC on 13 April 2015 as part of coverage for the 2015 general election.