Brian Taylor (born 9 January 1955) is a former political editor for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. Its headquarters are in Glasgow, employing approximately 1,250 staff as of 2017, to produce 15,000 hours of television and radio programming per year. BBC Scotla ...

and columnist for the Scottish

broadsheet A broadsheet is the largest newspaper format and is characterized by long Vertical and horizontal, vertical pages, typically of in height. Other common newspaper formats include the smaller Berliner (format), Berliner and Tabloid (newspaper ...

newspaper The Herald. Taylor – who joined the BBC in 1985 – originally co-presented ''Left, Right and Centre'' and was political correspondent prior to his political editor role. He covered politics on television beginning from the 1979 general election. In 2009, he presented ''Holyrood and the Search for Scotland's Soul'', a documentary by ''

BBC Scotland Investigates ''BBC Scotland Investigates'' is a current affairs programme broadcast in Scotland by BBC Scotland. It is broadcast regularly on BBC One Scotland on weekday nights, currently with varying timeslots. Previously known as ''Frontline Scotland'', t ...

'' to mark the 10th anniversary of the

devolved Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories ...

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

Early life

Taylor attended the independent

High School of Dundee The High School of Dundee is a private, co-educational, day school in Dundee, Scotland, which provides nursery, primary and secondary education to just over one thousand pupils. Its foundation has been dated to 1239, and it is the only private sc ...

and graduated from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

in 1977 with an MA (Hons) degree in English. Following his graduation, Taylor was employed as a

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

by the

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

-based '' Press & Journal'' before a six-year spell as a lobby correspondent at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

Career

Taylor joined the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

in 1985, co-presenting the

political programme ''Left, Right and Centre'' with

Kirsty Wark Kirsteen Anne "Kirsty" Wark (born 3 February 1955) is a Scottish television presenter and journalist with a long career at the BBC. Starting on BBC Radio Scotland, where she became a producer, Wark switched to television, presenting ''The Late ...

, and presenting '' Good Morning Scotland''. Following this, he was appointed political correspondent and then political editor in 1991. Taylor has written two books on Scotland's new

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

: ''The Scottish Parliament'' (Polygon, Edinburgh University Press, 1999), an account of the road to devolution and its consequences; and ''Scotland's Parliament: Triumph and Disaster'' (Edinburgh University Press, November 2002), analysing the early years of the new Parliament. On the 10 September 2020 it was announced that he would retire at the end of October. Glenn Campbell took over in his political editor role the following year. In February 2021 it was announced that Taylor had controversially joined The Herald as a columnist.

Personal life

Taylor is married with two sons. Taylor is a keen

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

football supporter and attends games regularly. He has presented the club's inaugural Hall of Fame dinner on a number of occasions. He was awarded an honorary degree by

Abertay University Abertay University () is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology w ...

in 2010. Taylor joined Twitter in 2012 and did not tweet anything until 2020 after he retired from BBC Scotland. His lack of tweets made him a Twitter icon who people regularly joke has said something outrageous then deleted it.

References

External links

Brian Taylor. Political editor, Scotland
on BBC * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Brian 1955 births Living people Journalists from Dundee People educated at the High School of Dundee Alumni of the University of St Andrews BBC Scotland newsreaders and journalists Scottish bloggers Scottish political journalists Scottish television journalists Scottish editors Scottish political writers