The BBC’s political editor, Nick Robinson, is to replace James Naughtie as a presenter on Radio 4’s Today programme, it has been announced.

Robinson, who was heavily touted for the role after the longserving presenter said he would be standing down earlier this week, will start in the autumn.

The BBC said that Robinson, who is still undergoing chemotherapy for a lung tumour, will form “part of the core presenting team” on its flagship radio news programme and will also report and present across television and radio for BBC News and Current Affairs.

Robinson said he was “delighted” to be taking the role, calling it “an honour”. He said: “I cannot remember a time when my morning did not begin with Today - the programme - setting the nation’s agenda.

“As a child, it was the sound not just of the latest news and the sharpest comment, but also of my best friend’s dad Brian Redhead, who inspired my love of radio. Brian relished the opportunity to ‘drop a word in the nation’s ear’.

“I’m delighted that, all these years later, I am being given the chance to sit in what was his chair.

“I will miss my privileged perch inside parliament and outside Downing Street but, after a decade as political editor, I’m looking forward to hearing someone else’s analysis of what our politicians are up to.”

Sky News presenter Adam Boulton - formerly Robinson’s opposite number in Westminster - said he was pleased for him. “He will do it very well and I know it has been a lifetime’s ambition.

“He has done one more election than political editors usually do at the BBC and he fits in the mix, he will add something to the Today programme. He is not metropolitan, he is from the north, so he is a good sub for Jim Naughtie.”

Boulton, who stepped down as Sky News’ political editor last year to front a new show with the broadcaster, added that it would be interesting to see both ITV News and the BBC recruit a political editor at the same time, following the appointment of ITV’s Tom Bradby as main anchor of News at Ten.

The BBC’s head of news, James Harding, said: “Nick has illuminated the world of British politics for a decade, bringing scoops, insight and understanding to our audiences at an extraordinary time of change. I am delighted that he will now bring the same understanding and passion to his presenting role at Today.”

And its director general, Tony Hall, called Robinson “tireless and inquisitive, acute and open-minded”.

Robinson was criticised by nationalists during the Scottish referendum campaign, who believed him to be biased towards the no voters. The former Scottish National Party leader spoke in support of a protest against the BBC’s political editor. Relations became so sour that Robinson had to be assigned a bodyguard.

But, in an interview with the Guardian last month, he insisted that the allegations did not make BBC journalists more likely to avoid asking difficult questions. “It can be the opposite as people become bloody-minded about it.”

However, Robinson did say that some BBC staff felt they were being put under pressure when he said David Cameron threatened to close it down.

Robinson claimed that Cameron made the comments during the election campaign in conversation with journalists on his battlebus.

“Some people on the bus regarded it as funny but they generally didn’t work for BBC. The people who did [work for the BBC] regarded it as yet another bit of pressure and a sort of sense of ‘don’t forget who’s boss here’.



“We didn’t know at the time, of course, that he would carry on, but given that was a possibility, given the timing of charter renewal … it’s quite a thing to say.”