Sebastian Payne

Sebastian Early Anthony Payne[1] (born 2 July 1989) is a British think tank director and former journalist. He began his career with stints at The Daily Telegraph and The Spectator, before joining the Financial Times in 2016, where he eventually rose to become the paper's Whitehall correspondent. In 2022, he left the paper to become director of the think tank Onward.

Sebastian Payne
Born (1989-07-02) 2 July 1989
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England
EducationSt Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon
Dame Allan's School
Alma materDurham University (BSc)
City, University of London (MA)
OccupationJournalist
Years active2011–present
EmployerOnward
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Sophia Gaston
​
​
(m. 2019; div. 2022)​

Early life

Payne was born on 2 July 1989,[2][3] in Gateshead, England. He attended St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon and later the private day school Dame Allan's School for sixth form,[4] where he began studying politics.[5] At Durham University, he studied Computer Science.[6] He was media editor of the student newspaper Palatinate,[1][5] and manager of Purple Radio, a student radio station where he also presented a show.[1] During his tenure as manager, Purple Radio received a fine from PRS for Music for not paying any fees for playing music on the station for five years.[6] He graduated from the university's Van Mildert College[7] in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science.[8]

After graduation,[6] Payne completed an internship on the media desk of The Guardian.[5] He obtained a Master of Arts in investigative journalism from City, University of London in 2011.[8][9]

Career

In 2010, Sebastian volunteered for Conservative Campaign Headquarters during the 2010 General Election Campaign.

Payne became a data reporter at The Daily Telegraph in 2011, before leaving the newspaper the following year.[10] He was an online editor of The Spectator magazine[11] and the deputy editor of its Coffee House blog from 2012 to 2015.[12] He was also managing editor of the magazine.[6] During his time at The Spectator he spent nine months in a Laurence Stern fellowship at the national desk of The Washington Post.[13][6]

Payne joined the Financial Times as digital opinion editor[14] at the beginning of 2016.[5] He became the newspaper's political leader writer,[14] before being appointed Whitehall correspondent in March 2019. He wrote a fortnightly political opinion column[15] and presented the weekly Payne's Politics podcast.[16]

In 2021 Pan Macmillan published Payne's book, Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England, about the red wall areas that voted Conservative in the 2019 general election.[17]

In November 2022 Pan Macmillan published The Fall of Boris Johnson, Payne's book about Prime Minister Boris Johnson's downfall.[18][19]

In December 2022 Payne left the Financial Times to become director of the think tank Onward.[20]

In 2023, he applied to be the Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the 2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election and was shortlisted but he was not selected.[21][22] Later that year he applied to be the candidate in West Suffolk for the next general election but was defeated by Nick Timothy.[23]

Personal life

Payne lives in Crouch End, North London.[8] He married Sophia Gaston on 20 July 2019 with the marriage ending in divorce in 2022. Gaston is a London School of Economics visiting fellow and Head of Foreign Policy and UK Resilience at the conservative think tank Policy Exchange.[24][25][26]

Bibliography
  • Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England (Pan Macmillan, 2021) ISBN 978-1529067361
  • The Fall of Boris Johnson (Pan Macmillan, 2022) ISBN 978-1035016648

References
  1. "Sebastian E. Payne > Personalia". Archived from the original on 7 July 2009. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  2. Payne, Sebastian (16 November 2011). "How true to life is Channel 4's Fresh Meat?". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  3. Payne, Sebastian [@SebastianEPayne] (2 July 2013). "Happy Birthday @SebastianEPayne" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 5 September 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  4. Payne, Sebastian (14 March 2015). "Seb Payne's schooldays". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 18 October 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  5. Dale, Iain (8 October 2021). "Chapter 147 : Sebastian Payne". Iain Dale's Book Club (Podcast). Global. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  6. "The Currant Affairs Podcast Season 4 - Interview with Sebastian Payne". Purple Radio On Demand (Podcast). Apple Podcasts. 7 April 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  7. "Alumni". The Mildertian. 14 July 2014. p. 5. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  8. "Sebastian Payne". Speakers for Schools. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  9. "Leading alumni in online and digital". City, University of London. Archived from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  10. "Sebastian Payne". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  11. "Sebastian Payne". National Press Foundation. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  12. "Author: Sebastian Payne". The Spectator. Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
  13. "Sebastian Payne is The Washington Post's 2014 Stern Fellow". The Washington Post. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  14. Jackson, Jasper (29 October 2015). "FT hires Spectator's Sebastian Payne as digital comment editor". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  15. Amos-Sansam, Nate (11 March 2019). "Sebastian Payne appointed Whitehall correspondent at Financial Times". ResponseSource. Retrieved 20 October 2019.
  16. "Sebastian Payne". Chartwell Speakers. Retrieved 31 July 2023.
  17. Chandler, Mark (16 September 2020). "Pan Mac wins four-publisher fight for Payne". The Bookseller. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  18. Chandler, Mark (25 July 2022). "Pan Mac scoops inside story of Boris Johnson's downfall by Payne". The Bookseller. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  19. Payne, Sebastian [@SebastianEPayne] (24 October 2022). "The Fall of Boris Johnson - out November 24" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  20. Payne, Sebastian [@SebastianEPayne] (7 December 2022). "after seven fantastic years at the @FinancialTimes, I'm delighted to be appointed director of @ukonward" (Tweet). Retrieved 8 December 2022 – via Twitter.
  21. Atkinson, William (10 June 2023). "Naughton selected in Selby in a "very unusual" contest". Conservative Home. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  22. "Former Financial Times journalist shortlisted to be Tory election candidate". The National. 2 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  23. Goodman, Paul (31 July 2023). "Nick Timothy and Bradley Thomas are selected to contest West Suffolk and Bromsgove respectively". Conservative Home. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  24. Blanchard, Jack (19 July 2019). "Politico London Playbook, presented by Lloyds Banking Group: I'm a Cabinet minister get me out of here — Our fractured nation — Boris care pledge". POLITICO. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  25. "Sophia Gaston". London School of Economics. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
  26. "Sophia Gaston". DSEI. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
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