Patrick Wintour is a British journalist whose career at The Guardian and The Observer has focused on British politics, international affairs, and diplomacy. He served as The Guardian's political editor from 2006 to 2015 and later became its diplomatic editor. He has also written and contributed to books on industry, newspapers, Labour politics, and workplace communication.
Background
Patrick Wintour was born on November 1, 1954. He is the son of Charles Vere Wintour, the former editor of the Evening Standard, and Eleanor Trego Baker. His family included several prominent figures in British and international journalism; his sister is Anna Wintour, the former editor-in-chief of American Vogue.
Wintour grew up within a family connected to the British newspaper world. His father's editorship of the Evening Standard placed the family in the professional and cultural environment of Fleet Street journalism, while Wintour later developed an independent career in political reporting and newspaper editing.
Education
Wintour was educated at The Hall School in Hampstead and Westminster School before attending Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Westminster School is an ancient independent school associated with Westminster Abbey and a long tradition of classical and public education. Corpus Christi College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, whose collegiate system combines undergraduate teaching, academic societies, and research within a university founded in the medieval period.
His education preceded a career in political journalism that began in the 1970s and developed through reporting, political correspondence, and senior newspaper editorship.
Wintour began his journalism career at the New Statesman, where he worked from 1976 to 1982. The New Statesman is a British political and cultural magazine founded in 1913, historically associated with progressive and Labour-oriented commentary. His early work there established the political focus that characterized much of his later career.
He joined The Guardian in 1983 as chief Labour correspondent. The Guardian, founded in Manchester in 1821 as the Manchester Guardian, became a major British national newspaper known for political reporting, liberal editorial traditions, and international coverage. Wintour served as the newspaper's chief political correspondent from 1988 to 1996, covering Westminster and the governments and opposition parties of the period.
From 1996 to 2000, Wintour was political editor of The Observer, The Guardian's Sunday sister newspaper. The Observer, founded in 1791, is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper and has long combined political reporting with international, cultural, and investigative journalism. Wintour returned to The Guardian as chief political correspondent in 2000 and held that position until 2006.
In 2006, Wintour succeeded Michael White as The Guardian's political editor. In that role he reported on British governments, political parties, elections, and the internal workings of Westminster. He remained political editor until 2015, when he moved into a diplomatic and international-affairs role. From 2016 onward, he served as The Guardian's diplomatic editor, covering foreign policy, international negotiations, conflicts, and relations among governments and multilateral institutions.
Achievements
Wintour won the British Press Awards Political Journalist of the Year award in 2007, recognizing his work in British political journalism.
Wintour developed a four-decade career in British journalism spanning magazine reporting, newspaper political correspondence, political editorship, and diplomatic journalism.
Works
book
Labour rebuilt: the new model party
(A book on the development and modernization of the Labour...)
(A book by David Goodhart to which Patrick Wintour contrib...)
1986
Why industry matters
(A commercially published work attributed to Patrick Winto...)
1978
A briefer's guide to team briefing
(A commercially published guide to team briefing attribute...)
1990
Politics
Wintour is associated with the Labour Party and has covered British Labour politics throughout his career. His early journalism included reporting on the Labour movement, and he later wrote about the party's internal development and political transformation.
The Labour Party emerged in the early twentieth century from the organized labour movement and developed as Britain's principal social-democratic party. During Wintour's career, its political history included the postwar welfare-state tradition, the modernizing reforms associated with New Labour, and continuing debates over public services, economic policy, Britain's relationship with Europe, and the balance between party tradition and electoral adaptation.
Personality
Quotes from others about the person
In 2006, Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger described Wintour as one of the most experienced and admired political correspondents of his generation, praising his range of contacts, judgment, and ability to obtain significant political stories.
Connections
Wintour is the son of Charles Vere Wintour, who edited the Evening Standard, and Eleanor Trego Baker. His sister Anna Wintour became a leading fashion editor and served as editor-in-chief of American Vogue. His brother Jim Wintour was involved in equestrian events at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
Wintour was married to journalist Madeleine Bunting and later married journalist Rachel Sylvester, a political columnist and writer for The Times. He has four children.
Father:
Charles Vere Wintour
Editor of the Evening Standard.
Mother:
Eleanor Trego Baker
Sister:
Anna Wintour
Fashion editor who served as editor-in-chief of American Vogue.
Wife:
Madeleine Bunting
Journalist and writer; Wintour's first wife.
Wife:
Rachel Sylvester
Journalist and political columnist for The Times; Wintour's second wife.
References
Patrick Wintour | The Guardian
The Guardian profile identifying Wintour as the newspaper's diplomatic editor and documenting his continuing journalism on international affairs.
Guardian appoints new political editor
The Guardian's report on Wintour's appointment as political editor, his earlier service as chief political correspondent, and his period at The Observer.
2006
Books by Patrick Wintour
The Open British National Bibliography record listing four published titles associated with Patrick Wintour.
