Paul Eastham

Paul Eastham is a former deputy Political Editor, Political Correspondent and Industry Correspondent at the Daily Mail.

Paul flew around the world with Prime Ministers and Cabinet Members unearthing a string of agenda-setting scoops whilst developing a reputation for his tenacious reporting style. “They’re scared of you,” was the verdict of one high ranking insider in government, “because they know that if it’s got your name on it, it’s true.”He is an inspiring speaker on the unique mixture of irreverence, grit and idealism which propels any good journalist. As well as anecdotes about Margaret Thatcher, John Major, and Tony Blair and stories from the eventful world of local journalism, Paul can also offer some striking reflections on British politics and the effects of the current Mail’s infamous editorship on British national life.

In his time as a journalist on local papers, Paul reported on exploding houses and surgical accidents. At the Mail his revelations included how Tony Blair agreed to reveal the name of Iraq weapons expert Dr David Kelly, former Home Secretary David Blunkett’s use of official channels to fast-track his girlfriend’s nanny a UK visa (for which he had to resign) and the exposure of the e-mail trail that exposed Cherie Blair’s relationship with an Australian conman. For this and other reasons, Paul figures in Alistair Campbell’s Number 10 diaries as perhaps the spin doctor’s least favourite journalist.

He was inside Qaddafi’s Bedouin tent when Blair and Qaddafi signed their deal, was the Mail’s man in London during the first Gulf War and reported from Iraq during the second, flying over the country with Tony Blair.

Paul Eastham has also written for The Observer, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph, the New

Statesman, Your Business, and Estates Gazette and Director Magazine. He has extensive broadcast experience and has appeared frequently on BBC TV and radio and Sky News.

Paul’s talks are down to earth, funny, and thoughtful, and he is particularly good at

communicating the thrill of chasing and then publishing a story which sets the news agenda, and the qualities that motivate all good journalism: a belief in holding people to account, idealism and sense of fun.

Paul’s topics include, ‘So you want to get into journalism?’ and ‘So you want to get into politics?’.