Sebastian Payne

Sebastian E. Payne (born 2 July 1989) is a British political journalist, and the Whitehall correspondent for the Financial Times.

Payne was born in 1989 in Gateshead, England. He attended St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon and sixth form at Dame Allan's School. He graduated from Durham University in 2010 with a BSc in computer science and an gained an MA in investigative journalism from City, University of London in 2011.

Payne became a data reporter at The Telegraph in 2011, before leaving the newspaper the following year. He was the online editor of The Spectator magazine and the deputy editor of their Coffee House blog from 2012 to 2015. During his time at The Spectator he participated in the Laurence Stern fellowship at The Washington Post.

Payne became the Financial Times' political leader writer and digital opinion editor in 2016 and was appointed Whitehall correspondent in March 2019. In the role, he specialises in the Conservative Party, Brexit and foreign policy. He writes a fortnightly political opinion column and presents the weekly FT Politics podcast. He appears regularly on both the BBC and Sky News. In 2019, Payne was named by the Evening Standard as one of the most influential journalists in London. He spoke that year at the Battle of Ideas festival on the North–South divide of England.

Payne lives in North London.