Sebastian Payne
Sebastian Payne is a columnist, leader writer and broadcaster for The Times. He writes editorials for the newspaper as well as a regular column on British policy and politics. He is a regular guest and presenter on Times Radio, as well as appearing on current affairs programmes including Newsnight, Any Questions, Politics Live and Question Time. He is also a regular guest on the Sky News paper reviews.
Sebastian’s first book, Broken Heartlands (Pan Macmillan), was published in 2021 and explored how the Labour Party’s traditional voters broke with the party. It was named as The Times’ political book of the year, as well one of the top reads by the Guardian, Daily Mail, FT and Telegraph.
His second book, The Fall of Boris Johnson, was published in 2022 and took readers inside the room for the dramatic collapse of a prime minister. It was awarded Best Political Book in the Parliamentary Book Awards and named a book of the year by several national newspapers.
Previously he was director of the Onward think-tank and Whitehall Editor at the Financial Times. He has also worked at the Spectator and Daily Telegraph, and was the 35th Lawrence Stern fellow at the Washington Post.
His third book, Where Power Lies, will be published in 2027 by Pan Macmillan and explores how Britain has become ungovernable.
