Guto Harri

Guto Harri was born in Cardiff to writer and psychiatrist Harri Pritchard-Jones and Lenna (née Harries).[3] A native Welsh speaker, he studied at Tonyrefail School and Ysgol Bryntaf,[4] before attending Ysgol Gyfun Llanhari.[3] Following his A Levels, Harri was accepted into The Queen's College, Oxford, where he studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). He then undertook a postgraduate course in Broadcast Journalism at Cardiff University.[3]

He started his career in Welsh-language radio before moving into network radio and television. He remained a regular contributor on the S4C news programme Newyddion[4] as well as on a number of historical documentaries for S4C.[4] He later presented a number of BBC Wales' main election programmes.[4]

Harri was a regular presenter on BBC television and radio programmes such as The World at One,[5] Westminster Live, Straight Talk, Despatch Box and The World This Weekend.[4] He covered the collapse of Communism in Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany before reporting on the Gulf War from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and northern Iraq.[6][4] He became the BBC's Chief Political Correspondent in November 2002[3] and also presented the channel's weekly interview programme, One To One.[3] He moved briefly to Rome from July 2004 to January 2005 and then became North America business correspondent based in New York City until June 2007.

After leaving the BBC at the end of 2007, he 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 Mayor of London Boris Johnson's administration at London City Hall.[1] Harri joined News UK in May 2012 as a Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs, but left in December 2015, remarking that he was leaving with the "job done" after the fallout over phone hacking at the company.[7]

He then joined Virgin Media owner Liberty Global in February 2016 as their Managing Director of External Communications.[8][9] He left the role in December 2017.

In May 2018 Harri took a part-time role with London PR firm Hanover Communications as a vice president,[2] for GQ Magazine as a Contributing Political Editor,[10] and also for Hydro Industries Limited as a Non Executive Director.[11]

Since June 2018 he has presented the S4C current affairs television programme, Y Byd yn ei Le.[12]

He is also a senior advisor for Hawthorn Advisors in London.

Harri grew up in Rhondda Cynon Taf. He married his wife Shireen in 2000, and has three children.[13] In 2005 Harri published an advert in the Western Mail seeking a Welsh-speaking nanny for their two children while he worked for the BBC in New York, in which he argued the importance of the language in bringing up his children.[14] Outside of work, he says he enjoys rowing, sailing, fishing and cooking.[15]

Harri is a trustee for S4C and a member of the S4C authority appointed by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. He is also a non-executive board member for Hay-on-Wye book festival.[16] He was previously a trustee for UK based cultural NGO Visiting Arts.[17] Harri is trained and serves as a volunteer crew member for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.[3] He holds an honorary doctorate from the University of South Wales.[3]

• Guto Harri at IMDb
• Guto Harri calls Boris Johnson a "buffoon"
• Guto Harri linked to S4C role
• Profile at BBC Newswatch
• London Speaker Bureau biography