John Sergeant, former ITN political editor, will be the speaker at the next HR Directors Club breakfast briefing in April – no doubt focusing on the current malaise hanging over the Palace of Westminster.
Following 30 years at the BBC, including 12 as chief political correspondent, Sergeant joined ITV News, where he was voted the Best Individual Television Contributor of the Year at the Voice of the Listener and Viewer Awards in 1999.
He previously worked as a war correspondent in Vietnam, Cyprus, Israel and Rhodesia. He regularly reported from Northern Ireland (he reported the first British soldier killed during the Troubles), and has also been an acting correspondent in Washington, Paris and Dublin.
For two years, Sergeant covered European affairs and the first sessions of the directly elected European Parliament. He has also, at times, presented all the main current affairs programmes on Radio 4, including Today and The World at One.
Among his notable journalistic achievements was his encounter with Margaret Thatcher at the Paris Embassy days before she resigned as prime minister in 1990. The way he was pushed aside by Lady Thatcher’s press secretary, Sir Bernard Ingham, has become one of the most famous live broadcasts of recent times. Many saw it as a metaphor for the end of Thatcher’s regime.
Among Sergeant’s major scoops was the only interview with the Welsh secretary, Ron Davies, after he was forced to resign over the notorious rent-boy incident on Clapham Common.
The event takes place on 24 April at the Queen’s Club tennis venue in West Kensington, London. Click here for more details.
The HR Directors Club is sponsored by Arinso International, GMAC Global Relocation Services, Hammonds, and XpertHR – all leading suppliers in the industry.
