Robert Peston salary: How much does the ITV Political Editor make? | Personal Finance | Finance
You’ll most likely know Robert Peston from his flagship politician discussion programme on ITV that airs on Wednesday nights. The show launched as a continuation of Peston on Sunday in 2018 and is back tonight for episode two of its eighth run. Peston hosts the political magazine show, interviewing MPs, topical guests and cultural figures, so it’s a big job that deserves a big salary. But how much does the host and ITV Political Editor make?
Robert Peston, now the Political Editor at ITV and host of Pesto, has had an impressive journalistic career.
It all started in 1983, with Peston working at the Investors Chronicle and joining the Independent for its launch a few years later.
Peston worked his way up to City Editor of the Independent on Sunday in 1990 and eventually was made the Political Editor, Banking Editor and head of an investigations unit at the Financial Times.
The journalist then became editorial director of Quest while serving as a contributing editor of The Spectator, and penning a weekly column for The Daily Telegraph in 2000.
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In 2005, when Peston was the associate editor of The Sunday Telegraph, it was announced that he would succeed Jeff Randall as BBC Business Editor.
Fast forward to 2015, Peston made the decision to leave the BBC and join ITV News in the position he still holds today.
Peston on Sunday started in 2016, but moved to a Wednesday night timeslot and rebranded as Peston two years later.
The Government demanded that the BBC discloses what it paid its stars if they earn more than £150,000 a year.
Rumours suggested that Peston was earning £750,000 in his role as Political Editor at ITV, but he denied that.
The journalist said his salary was “nothing remotely” like the reported amount, but admitted that he was being paid “more than a third more” by ITV than BBC.
He said: “Obviously, the money matters, but this was about challenges, about getting more fun in my life, and this is fun.”
We don’t know for sure how much Peston earns, but we can take a guess by comparison to the BBC’s salaries.
However, BBC Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg was revealed to earn between £260,000 and £264,999, so it’s safe to guess that Peston is paid more than this.
Not taking into consideration raises and the gender pay gap, if Peston is paid “more than a third more” than the BBC fee he could be making more than £346,666 a year.
Nonetheless, predictions elsewhere suggest Peston is now paid the £750,000 figure he denied in 2015.
