Andrew Neil
Andrew Ferguson Neil was born on 21 May 1949, the son of an army officer.
Andrew Neil attended Paisley Grammar School and the University of Glasgow. He graduated in 1971 with an MA (Hons) in Political Economy and Political Science.
After a short stint working for the Conservative Party, Andrew Neil joined The Economist. He had a variety of roles there before becoming UK editor.
Andrew Neil was appointed editor of The Sunday Times in 1983 and held the role for 11 years. In 1988 he was also made Executive Chairman of Sky.
Whilst at The Sunday Times, he met Pamela Bordes (exposed by the News of the World as an expensive prostitute) in Tramp nightclub in March 1988 which led eventually to Andrew Neil bringing a libel action against Peregrine Worsthorne for an article he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph. Neil won £1000 and costs. One upshot in passing was that apparently Bordes revealed his hair-dye stained the pillow-cases.
Since leaving Rupert Murdoch's media empire, Andrew Neil has had a variety of roles in the media. He helped the reclusive Barclay Brothers develop their media interests, including The Sunday Business, The Scotsman and The Evening News (Edinburgh).
As well as presenting on Radio 5, Andrew Neil has fronted many shows (mainly political) on BBC Television including The Midnight Hour, The Daily Politics and This Week.
In 2005, Andrew Neil became the chief executive of The Spectator.
In 1997, Andrew Neil wrote an account of his early career entitled Full Disclosure.