Chris Mason

About

Chris Mason is the BBC’s Political Editor, reporting on events at Westminster on radio, TV, podcast, and online. Chris has spent two decades at the BBC honing his ability to deliver often complex stories in a digestible and entertaining fashion.

Career

Early Career

Chris started his career as a trainee broadcast journalist at ITN in 2001 before moving to BBC Newcastle a year later. By 2004, Chris was delivering his first Westminster report from the BBC regional desk.

BBC Career

• Europe Correspondent: Two years as Europe Correspondent for BBC News took Chris away from Westminster.
• Political Reporter and Correspondent: He returned for a short stint as a political reporter on BBC Radio 5 Live before becoming a BBC News Political Correspondent in 2012. Since then, he has been seen or heard on the full range of BBC news bulletins and political programming.
• Podcast Presenter: In 2017, Chris began presenting the podcast Brexitcast alongside Adam Fleming, later joined by Laura Kuenssberg and Katya Adler. Following the UK’s departure from the EU, the podcast was renamed Newscast and also had a four-month run as a daily podcast, The Coronavirus Newscast, during the country’s first pandemic lockdown.
• Chair of Any Questions: In 2019, Chris was appointed chair of the BBC Radio 4 programme Any Questions, succeeding Jonathan Dimbleby who had held the role for 32 years.
• BBC Political Editor: In 2022, Chris was promoted to BBC Political Editor, taking up the role following the May local elections.

Memorable Moment

During Theresa May’s Brexit negotiations in 2018, Chris famously told BBC Breakfast viewers, “Is the Prime Minister going to get a deal with the EU? Dunno! Is she going to be able to get it through the Commons? Don’t know about that, either. I think you might as well get Mr Blobby back on to offer his analysis, because, frankly, I suspect his is now as good as mine.”

Personal Life

Chris lives in southeast London with his wife and two children. He has also appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, where his specialist subject was the Yorkshire Dales, finishing second.