Far from the corridors of Westminster, ITV’s political editor Robert Peston has found an unlikely stage for his talents – fronting a rock and punk cover band named Centrist Dad.
Performing hits like Blondie’s ‘One Way Or Another’ and Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’, Peston says the band – which features his long-time friend and former shadow chancellor Ed Balls on drums, and Radio 4’s Front Row presenter John Wilson – is a form of therapy.
It offers a much-needed respite from the relentless pace of reporting, especially after a period he describes as “a decade of political mayhem”.
“I think we were all hoping after the last election that it would just be a bit dull and boring for a bit. But it hasn’t turned out that way,” Peston, 66, said.
While he also writes thrillers as an escape, music is his primary method for disconnecting.
“When we are rehearsing, all the misery of the world is locked out and we’re 13-year-old boys again. It’s a very innocent pleasure.”
Peston, who has a history of OCD, ADHD, and anxiety, credits music with aiding his mental well-being.
His friendship with Balls dates back to the mid-1990s. Peston discovered Balls’ drum kit during a visit to Yorkshire years ago, leading him to assume his friend could play.
“When he joined (the band), Ed wasn’t an accomplished drummer, but like everything that Ed does, if he decides to do something, he massively commits and he’s now a pretty good drummer,” he said.
Centrist Dad performs exclusively to raise money for charity, with their inaugural gig in north west London in 2023 drawing notable attendees including Sir Keir Starmer, Ed Miliband, and Yvette Cooper.
“There was this moment where I launched into the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The UK’. According to Tom Baldwin’s book about Starmer (Keir Starmer: The Biography), which I understand is completely true, Starmer turns to Ed Miliband and says, ‘Under no circumstances are you to sing along to Anarchy In The UK’,” Peston said.
“We don’t make claims to being the world’s greatest musicians, but we do take pride in what we do. When you are trying to turn Blondie’s ‘Picture This’ into something that you know isn’t going to embarrass us, you just cut yourself off from all the horrors.”
Writing political thrillers is another way Peston lowers his stress levels and his latest, The Kill Switch, is the third in his series featuring fictional investigative journalist Gil Peck – who has distinct similarities to Peston – and journalist Jess Neeskens, who have an unexpected scoop when the prime minister becomes unwell, collapses mid-interview on their podcast, and later dies. It is found that she has been injected with a novel virus.
Then begins the hunt for the killer, as they discover that the prime ministers had blocked a contract for a major tech company to manage public sector systems, including the NHS, which they suspect led to her assassination.
AI features heavily in the novel, posing the question of whether it is evolving to develop a mind of its own.
“My big obsession for about three years has been artificial intelligence and essentially the good and the bad of it,” Peston said.
“The good is that, harnessed in the right way, it can make us more productive, it can make us as societies richer.
“But the negative side is potentially hugely serious and troubling, which is the AI super intelligence being somehow created or born with a will of its own and an autonomy, the ability to improve itself without any human intervention, and we’re already seeing that with the latest AI models to an extent.
“The great creators of AI, the experts, warn about the risk of AI becoming this artificial superintelligence which just decides to rework its own code to eliminate all the protections that the developers have put in to protect humanity.”
He is also concerned that AI will end up replacing people in a vast number of jobs, which would ultimately devastate the economy – and society.
“If millions of people are losing their jobs, where are the tax revenues going to come from to pay for our schools and hospitals? These are the big questions that I wish our political leaders were focused on, but they get pushed to one side.
“During the General Election in 2024, I would say to Tom Bradby (ITV’s News At Ten presenter) every night, that the problem with general elections is that nobody’s talking about the biggest economic and social trend of our time, namely AI.”
Away from work, he has also had his share of turmoil. His wife of 14 years, the novelist Siân Busby, with whom he has a son, Max, and stepson, Simon, died from lung cancer in 2012, aged 51.
He threw himself into work to distract himself from the grief.
“I’m lucky that I love what I do for a living, so I think I used work and journalism as a pain killer, an analgesic.”
However, taking the notes for his late wife’s final book to write up so it could be published proved the final emotional straw.
“Reading through her notes was overwhelmingly upsetting and exhausting,” he recalls.
Two months later, he collapsed, experiencing agony in every joint, was hospitalised, and was diagnosed with reactive arthritis. Over a period of months it subsided.
“It was my body just saying to me, ‘Stop! Take time for yourself, don’t use your tendency to be hyperactive.’. When we’ve had a catastrophe in our lives like the death of a wife, we all need time to grieve and try to understand who we are.”
He went on to have an eight-year relationship with journalist Charlotte Edwardes, which ended amicably in early 2025.
He met his current partner, artist Nell Breyer, at a Christmas party. It is a long-distance relationship, as she lives in New York and he lives in North London.
“There’s quite a lot of travelling, but I’m feeling very fortunate to have found this lovely person,” he says. “We’re spending most of the summer together, which is nice.”
His mother died in February and Peston believes he takes more time to grieve and understand himself these days. He has had a lot of therapy over the years, but his earlier experience of losing his wife also changed his attitude to life, he says.
“Fundamentally I became less scared in the sense that when you are with somebody as brave as she was – and she was extraordinarily brave – but also when the most important person in your life dies, it makes you realise that we do only have one life and you’ve got to stop being scared and just do the stuff you want to do.”
