Who is Huw Edwards? The newsreader named as BBC star at centre of scandal
He is one of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters and its top newsreader.
Now Huw Edwards finds himself the subject of some unwelcome headlines after being named as the broadcaster accused of paying a teenager £35,000 for explicit pictures.
As well as hosting the corporation’s flagship News at Ten for the past 20 years, he has also anchored major national events including the King’s coronation.
In a recent post on his Instagram page, he and BBC colleagues were pictured winning an industry award for their coverage of Queen Elizabeth II’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey last September.
Huw Edwards latest: BBC presenter ‘suffering serious mental health issues’
Huw Edwards has presented the BBC’s News at Ten for 20 years but has been suspended. Pic: BBC News
The 61-year-old, who was born in Bridgend, south Wales, in 1961, is married to TV producer Vicky Flind. They have five children.
Away from work, Edwards is a vice president of the National Churches Trust, and has written about the scourge of “vandalism in disused chapels and churches across the United Kingdom”.
He is also a patron of the Welsh Buildings Trust, a charity set up to conserve and develop redundant chapels across Wales in need of repair work.
One of BBC’s highest paid stars
Despite being – in his own words – an “angry and stroppy teenager”, he went on to become one of the BBC’s biggest stars, on a current salary of just over £400,000.
In 2018, however, he agreed a pay cut, and told The Times he was “bloody angry” about it.
“I was being paid what the BBC had agreed to pay me; it wasn’t my fault,” he said.
A number of male BBC presenters accepted smaller salaries after it emerged that female colleagues were being paid less.
Edwards has previously spoken about his rejection by Oxford University being an important life lesson.
Giving a speech there in May, he told the audience he had the “scholarly giants of Oxford to thank for the fact that I’ve been a dazzling success as a journalist” and said he was “appalled” after being refused a place.
But, while admitting to being “rather stroppy and arrogant as a teenager”, he added: “Failure and setbacks are a part of life. They may be painful, [but] you’ve got to pick yourself up and carry on.”
Edwards in Downing Street in 2019
Mental health struggles
In a 2022 interview with Men’s Health UK, Edwards discussed his 20-year battle with mental health problems.
He told the magazine his depression includes anxiety and tends to “hit in a strong wave” and then go away.
Speaking to mental health campaigner and columnist Alastair Campbell, he said: “I’m pretty clear that I have suffered – and do suffer – from depression.
“It’s not anxiety, although it includes anxiety, but it tends to hit me in a strong wave and then go away.
“At least I now know when I’m going to enter a phase like that. Your mind goes into a place where you don’t want to do anything. You can’t make any decisions.
“Things that you usually enjoy, you dread. You come into work and obviously you do a professional job, but you’re kind of pushing your way through it.
“And, of course, if it’s very bad – as it has been a few times over the course of 20 years – you can’t work. During the worst one I had, I couldn’t get out of bed.”
Early life
Born into a Welsh-speaking family, his father was an author and a research professor of Welsh language literature at University College Swansea, while his mother was a teacher.
Edwards attended a grammar school and went on to study French at University College Cardiff.
He began some postgraduate work on medieval French before becoming a reporter for local radio station Swansea Sound, later joining the BBC as a news trainee in 1984.
Two years on he became a parliamentary correspondent for BBC Wales and began presenting the national Six O’Clock News in 1994.
Edwards was suspended by the BBC after allegations were published in The Sun about an unnamed presenter paying a teenager for explicit photos.
Several other people came forward with separate claims about the star – before he was named in a statement released by his wife on his behalf.
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The first vote on the assisted dying bill is not only hugely consequential, it’s also hugely unpredictable and even as the vote draws near it still feels like it could go either way.
MPs will debate the bill, brought forward by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, in parliament today before they get a free vote on the legislation.
There are a few reasons why the potential outcome of the vote is difficult to predict. Firstly, the last Commons vote on this issue was back in 2015. It was also a Private Members’ Bill and a free vote, that was defeated by 331 to 119 – 199 MPs didn’t vote and one abstained.
That may seem like a useful starting point to predict future results but there has been an unprecedented turnover of MPs since then.
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It was less than a decade ago but over two-thirds of those MPs from 2015 are no longer in parliament. This means there’s no voting record that can help us out this time round.
Secondly, it’s a free vote so we can’t, as we usually would, look to the political parties to work out the numbers.
Every single one of the 650 MPs must make up their minds for themselves and they have all taken a slightly different approach to the process.
How MPs have told Sky News they will vote on assisted dying
Some came out straight away and declared their position publicly. Some took their time and have only decided in the last few days, putting out statements on social media platforms.
There are also those who prefer to keep it to themselves, and some who are genuinely still undecided and will be until they walk through the voting lobbies.
So, to get a sense of what could happen, at Sky News we have been monitoring declarations as well as reaching out to every MP personally.
This has given us, on the eve of the second reading, an informative but still incomplete picture.
So far we have confirmed that 181 MPs will vote for the bill, while 148 say they will vote against, and 300 are either undecided or haven’t revealed their decision.
There are also 20 MPs that won’t vote – the SNP because the changes won’t apply in Scotland, Sinn Fein who don’t sit in Westminster, and the Speaker and Deputy Speakers.
Of those who will vote but whose position is still unknown, about two-thirds are Labour MPs – a big chunk of those are brand new.
This is the deciding cohort, who just a few months into their roles will make a life-or-death decision that will influence generations to come – no pressure.
Ms Leadbeater has said she hopes parliament will “show itself at its best” by voting in favour of the bill.
In a statement on Thursday night, she said: “I hope this parliament will also be remembered for this major social reform that gives people autonomy over the end of their lives and puts right an injustice that has been left on the statute books for far too long.
“People will be looking in on parliament as it debates this important change to the law – a change that, when we most need it, could bring comfort to any one of us or to somebody we love.”
Read more on assisted dying:
Analysis: Bill could be wrecked by dirty tricks
Five stories that bring the assisted dying debate home
David Cameron comes out in support of bill
How MPs are making up their minds
What does the bill propose?
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Lord Cameron to support assisted dying bill
What could make the difference?
Most MPs tell us they have been poring over the legislation line-by-line and listening intently to their constituents.
But beyond that, there are external factors that will no doubt have influenced their thinking.
Public opinion will be high on the list, with the latest YouGov poll – one of many – showing an overwhelming majority (73%) of the public are in favour of a change in the law.
The other will be how Cabinet ministers vote, with many high profile and respected names, Ed Miliband and Hilary Benn among them, coming out in favour.
MPs will vote in the House of Commons on the bill
More controversial though are those who oppose the bill.
In particular, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting and the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood have made the news with their views.
They will both have to take a leading role in implementing the legislation if it passes.
Mr Streeting shocked Westminster when he revealed he had changed his mind after voting for the 2015 version.
He also ruffled feathers among colleagues when he appeared to breach the etiquette around free votes, by repeatedly raising concerns around extra pressures on the NHS and making the case for improving palliative care instead.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting changed his mind on the issue. Pic: PA
Mr Streeting’s position and approach have made the bill’s supporters nervous that new MPs will fall in behind him.
In contrast, other big beasts – the prime minister, the chancellor and the foreign secretary – remain silent on which way they will go, aware that their opinions could sway the result.
As it stands, after all the number crunching, it looks likely that this landmark legislation will pass the second reading.
But with so many unknowns, both sides will feel that even at this late stage, it’s still impossible to call.
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