Lewis Goodall | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1989-07-01)1 July 1989 (age 36) Birmingham, England |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, television reporter, author |
| Employer(s) | BBC Sky News LBC |
| Spouse | |
Lewis Goodall (born 1 July 1989) is a British journalist, broadcaster and author. He worked as a researcher forGranada Studios before becoming a political correspondent forSky News. He later became policy editor of theBBC's flagship current affairs programmeNewsnight.
In 2022, frustrated with their editorial policy, he quit the BBC alongside colleaguesEmily Maitlis (Newsnight) andJon Sopel (Politics Show) to launchThe News Agents podcast.[1] His first bookLeft for Dead?: The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party was published in September 2018.
Goodall was born on 1 July 1989.[2] He was raised on acouncil estate inLongbridge; he attendedTurves Green Boys' School and completed hisA Levels atCadbury Sixth Form College. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 17. His father was a welder at the nearbyRover Company factory.[3] He studied atSt John's College, Oxford, graduating in 2010 with a degree in history and politics.[4]
While at Oxford, he spent time in the United States as an intern to the DemocratHouse RepresentativeDiana DeGette.[5] He later became an Entente Cordiale scholar, spending time learning French in Paris[6] andMandarin Chinese atBeijing Normal University.[7] He was the first in his family to go to university.[8] Goodall was a volunteer for a member of theLabour Party whilst at school.[9][10]
After graduation, Goodall worked forGranada Studios as a question writer for the quiz showUniversity Challenge.[4] He then worked for the centre-left think tank theInstitute for Public Policy Research.[11] At the IPPR, he was the main researcher for the "Northern Economic Futures Commission"think tank.[12] He began his career in journalism as a producer and reporter at the BBC in 2012, where he was a producer on theDaily Politics. He later become Economics and Business Analyst forBBC News.[13]
In 2014, he joinedBBC Newsnight as a political researcher, briefing presenters for major interviews before becoming an occasional reporter for the programme as well as wider BBC output, includingVictoria Derbyshire andBBC Radio Four.[4] In 2015, Goodall reported from both theCharlie Hebdo shooting andNovember 2015 Paris attacks. Goodall conducted the last interview withLabour Party politicianDenis Healey before the latter’s death in October 2015.[4]
Goodall left the BBC in 2016 to joinSky News as a political correspondent. He became known for his coverage of the Brexit crisis and the strife within the Labour Party, and in 2019 was named aMHP Communications '30 under 30' young journalists to watch.[14] That year, he presented a documentary on the rise ofNigel Farage and theBrexit Party.[15] He became known for his election and data analysis and became a main presenter on Sky's election programmes in 2017 and 2019. His first book, an analysis ofNew Labour andJeremy Corbyn titledLeft for Dead?: The Strange Death and Rebirth of the Labour Party was published in 2018.[16][17]
He returned to the BBC in January 2020 asNewsnight's policy editor.[18][19] He went on to become one of the most prominent faces of the BBC's reporting on theCOVID-19 pandemic, especially its impact on schools, care homes and the death rate. In August 2020, he reported extensively on theA-level grading scandal,[11] credited with changing government policy over which grades would be given to students in that year's exams, for which he was nominated for anOrwell Prize in 2021.[11] In 2022, he reported from the western Ukrainian border on the outbreak of theRusso-Ukrainian War and the resultant refugee crisis in eastern Poland.[20] That year, he presented a Radio Four documentary "What is a Tory?" on the evolution of Conservative political thought.[21] Goodall featured in the BBC's election night coverage and was called a "rising star" of the corporation.[22]
Goodall later stated that the BBC had not protected his editorial freedom from criticism by former Conservative Party communications chief,Robbie Gibb, who was appointed to the BBC board in May 2021 and should not have had direct editorial involvement. Editors had instead warned him to "be careful: Robbie is watching you." This in part led to his decision later to leave the BBC.[23]
In June 2022, Goodall announced he was leaving the BBC to join media companyGlobal Media & Entertainment to make a daily podcast (The News Agents withEmily Maitlis andJon Sopel).[22] He stated on Twitter he would be remaining atNewsnight for "a while yet".[24]The News Agents was launched on 30 August 2022,[25] and was named "Best Daily Podcast" in 2023. He also became presenter of a Friday politics show forLBC. He was named as the sole presenter of the investigative documentary series “News Agents Investigates” in the same year. In spring 2024 he was named as the presenter of LBC's flagship Sunday political show, Sunday with Lewis Goodall. In November 2024 he made a return to Sky, as an election night presenter for their US election coverage.
In July 2025, it was reported that Goodall had been subject to a "constitutionally unprecedented" super-injunction] by the UK government for 23 months, to prevent the reporting of a "catastrophic" data leak pertaining to Afghan asylum seekers.[26][non-primary source needed] Goodall called the case "deeply disturbing for press freedom" in the UK.[27]
Goodall writes for theNew Statesman and other print and online outlets.[28]
Goodall married Tone Langengen, theTony Blair Institute for Global Change's senior climate and energy policy advisor, in August 2023.[29][30]