Sebastian Early Anthony Payne (born 2 July 1989) is a British journalist and former

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

director. He began his career with stints at ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' and ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...

'', before joining the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' in 2016, where he eventually rose to become the paper's

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London, England. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It ...

correspondent. In 2022, he left the paper to become director of the think tank Onward. He left the think tank and joined ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' as a writer and columnist at the end of 2024.

Early life

Payne was born on 2 July 1989, in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, England. He attended St Thomas More Catholic School,

Blaydon Blaydon is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England, and historically in County Durham. Blaydon, and neighbouring Winlaton, which Blaydon is now contiguous with, form the town of Blaydon-on-Tyne. The Blaydon/Winl ...

, and later the private day school

Dame Allan's School Dame Allan's Schools is a collection of private day schools in Fenham, in the west end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It comprises a Junior School, Senior School and a Sixth Form. Founded in 1705 as a charity, the original schools are two of ...

for

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

, where he began studying politics. At

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

, he studied computer science. He was media editor of the student newspaper '' Palatinate'', and manager of

Purple Radio Purple Radio is Durham University's Official Student Radio Station. Purple broadcasts online 24 hours a day during term time, from October until June each year. History Purple FM (1996 - 2005) Purple Radio was previously known as Purple FM ...

, a student radio station where he also presented a show. During his tenure as manager, Purple Radio received a fine from

PRS for Music PRS for Music Limited (formerly The MCPS-PRS Alliance Limited) is a British music copyright collective, made up of two collection societies: the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society (MCPS) and the Performing Right Society (PRS). It undertake ...

for not paying any fees for playing music on the station for five years. He graduated from the university's

Van Mildert College Van Mildert College (colloquially known as Van Mil or Mildert) is one of the 17 constituent colleges of Durham University. The college was founded in 1965 and takes its name from William Van Mildert, the last Prince-Bishop to rule the County ...

in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science. After graduation, Payne completed an internship on the media desk of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. He obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in investigative journalism from

City, University of London City, University of London was a public university from 1966 to 2024 in London, England. It merged with St George's, University of London to form City St George's, University of London in August 2024. The names "City, University of London" an ...

in 2011.

Career

Payne volunteered for

Conservative Campaign Headquarters The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and man ...

during the 2010 general election campaign. Payne became a data reporter at ''

'' in 2011, before leaving the paper the following year. He was an online editor of ''

'' magazine and the deputy editor of its Coffee House blog from 2012 to 2015. He was also managing editor of the magazine. During his time at ''The Spectator'' he spent nine months in a Laurence Stern fellowship at the national desk of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Payne joined the ''

'' as digital opinion editor at the beginning of 2016. He became the paper's political leader writer, before being appointed

correspondent in March 2019. He wrote a fortnightly political opinion column and presented the weekly ''Payne's Politics'' podcast. In 2021,

Pan Macmillan Pan Books is a British publishing imprint that first became active in the 1940s and is now part of the British-based Macmillan Publishers, owned by the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group of Germany. History Pan Books began as an indepe ...

published Payne's book, ''Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England'', about the red wall areas that voted for the Conservative Party at the 2019 general election. In November 2022, Pan Macmillan published ''The Fall of Boris Johnson'', Payne's book about Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

's downfall. In December 2022, Payne left the ''Financial Times'' to become director of the

Onward. In 2023, Payne applied to be the Conservative

prospective parliamentary candidate In British politics, a prospective parliamentary candidate (PPC) is a candidate selected by political parties to contest under individual Westminster constituencies in advance of a general election. The term originally came into use because of ...

for the

2023 Selby and Ainsty by-election A by-election was held in the Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom parliamentary constituency of in North Yorkshire on 20 July 2023, following the announcement on 10 June that the incumbent Conservative Party ...

and was shortlisted but not selected. Later that year, he applied to be the party's candidate in

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral di ...

for the

2024 general election This is a list of elections that were held in 2024. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2024 United Nations Security Council election * 2024 national electoral calendar * 2024 local electo ...

, but was defeated by

Nick Timothy Nicholas James Timothy (born March 1980) is a British politician and former special adviser who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Suffolk since 2024. A member of the Conservative Party, he previously served as joint Downing ...

. Payne unsuccessfully ran to be the Conservative candidate in several other seats, including

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

, Bridlington and the Wolds,

Waveney Valley Waveney Valley is a constituency of the House of Commons in the UK Parliament, created following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. Since its first election in 2024, it has been represented by Adrian Ramsay of the Green Part ...

, and

Surrey Heath Surrey Heath is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt. The ...

. With the close of nominations for seats on 7 June, Payne failed to be selected for a seat at the

Personal life

Payne lives in Archway, North London. name="Voting location"/https://x.com/SebastianEPayne/status/1808778803818176743?lang=en-GB He married Sophia Gaston on 20 July 2019. They are now divorced.

Bibliography

* ''Broken Heartlands: A Journey Through Labour's Lost England'' (Pan Macmillan, 2021) * ''The Fall of Boris Johnson'' (Pan Macmillan, 2022)

References

External links

Sebastian Payne
at the ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Sebastian 1989 births Living people People educated at Dame Allan's School Alumni of Van Mildert College, Durham Alumni of City, University of London British male journalists 21st-century British journalists British newspaper journalists British political journalists The Daily Telegraph people The Spectator people The Washington Post journalists Financial Times people The Times journalists People from Gateshead Writers from Tyne and Wear Conservative Party (UK) people