Gavin Esler

Gavin Esler
Esler in 2013
Born	Gavin William James Esler (1953-02-27) 27 February 1953 (age 71) Glasgow, Scotland
Nationality	British
Education	George Heriot's School
Alma mater	University of Kent (BA) University of Leeds (MA)
Occupations	Journalist television presenter author
Employer	BBC News (1977–2018)
Notable credits	Newsnight Dateline London The Film Review BBC News at Five BBC Weekend News
Political party	Change UK (2019) Independent (2019–present)
Spouses	Patricia Warner ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 2010)​ Anna Phoebe ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	4
Website	gavinesler.com

Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight, from January 2003 until January 2014, and presenter of BBC News at Five on the BBC News Channel. Since 2014 he has served as the Chancellor of the University of Kent. On 11 March 2017, Esler confirmed via his Twitter profile that he would be leaving the BBC at the end of the month to concentrate on his writing activities.^[1] He returned to the BBC later that year as host of Talking Books.

He stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Change UK in London at the 2019 European Parliament election.