Guto Harri

Infobox journalist
name = Guto Harri


caption =
birthname = Guto Pritchard-Jones
birth_date = birth date and age|1966|07|08
birth_place = Cardiff, Wales
occupation = Journalist, Political Correspondent, Public Relations
ethnic = Welsh
credits = The World at One, Westminster Live, Straight Talk, Despatch Box and The World This Weekend

Guto Harri (born July 08, 1966), is a former BBC Chief Political Correspondent. In May 2008 he was appointed Communications Director for the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's administration at London City Hall. [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7392127.stm|title=Ex-BBC man is Johnson spokesman|publisher=BBC News|date=2008-05-09|accessdate=2008-05-09] . His first name is pronounced "GITT-o", the vowel in the second syllable being undiphthongised (IPAEng|ˈɡɪtɒ).

Background

He was born in Cardiff, Wales, the son of the doctor and writer, Harri Pritchard-Jones. A native Welsh speaker, Harri was educated at Tonyrefail, Bryntaf, and alongside Ffion Hague at the Welsh-medium Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari (Llanhari Comprehensive School), and Queen's College, Oxford, where he studied PPE (Politics, Philosophy and Economics) - his friends included Boris Johnson.citeweb|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=565030&in_page_id=1770|title=Boris Johnson signs BBC journalist Guto Harri as his chief spin doctor|publisher=Daily Mail|date=2008-05-09|accessdate=2008-05-09] . He then undertook a postgraduate course in Broadcast Journalism at the Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff.

Harri is married with twin sons aged six, and is a member of Siân Lloyd's London-based club SWS - Social, Welsh and Sexy.

Career

He started his broadcasting career in Welsh-language radio before moving into national radio and television, working on the S4C news programme Newyddion and on a number of historical documentaries for S4C, as well as presenting BBC Wales' main election programme.

Harri has been a regular presenter on BBC television and radio programmes such as The World at One, Westminster Live, Straight Talk, Despatch Box and The World This Weekend. He played a key role in covering the collapse of communism in Romania, Czechoslavakia and East Germany before reporting on the Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Northern Iraq. Harri became the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent in November 2002, and also presented the channel's weekly interview programme, One To One. He moved briefly to Rome from July 2004 to January 2005, and then becoming North American Business correspondent based in New York until June 2007.

After leaving the BBC at the end of 2007, Harri was approached to work for Conservative Party leader David Cameron, but joined London public relations agency Fleishman-Hillard as a Senior Policy Advisor, spending four weeks as an adviser to Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. In May 2008 he was appointed Communications Director for the Mayor of London Boris Johnson's administration at London City Hall. [citeweb|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7392127.stm|title=Ex-BBC man is Johnson spokesman|publisher=BBC News|date=2008-05-09|accessdate=2008-05-09]

References

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ukfs/hi/newsid_4360000/newsid_4360400/4360466.stm BBC Newswatch profile]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/news/gutoharri.shtml BBC Press Office biography]
* [http://www.londonspeakerbureau.co.uk/guto_harri.aspx London Speaker Bureau biography]