on BBC One's regional news programme for London and the South East of England – Newsroom South East. He worked as an anchor on the BBC News channel (at the time known as "BBC News 24") from its outset in 1997 and co-presented its prime-time slot with Sian Williams for several years. In January 2003, he joined Newsnight, replacing Jeremy Vine, who had left to take over from Sir Jimmy Young on Radio 2. During his career Esler has interviewed heads of state and government including Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac and King Abdullah II of Jordan. He has also interviewed a wide range of cultural figures, including Dolly Parton, Doris Lessing, Penélope Cruz, Angelina Jolie, V. S. Naipaul, Roger Waters, Vikram Seth and Seamus Heaney. Esler left Newsnight in January 2014, and was replaced by Laura Kuenssberg. In 2005, Esler interviewed George Galloway on Newsnight about the London bombings. The BBC was reported to have received hundreds of complaints about his interview alleging his questioning was "rude and aggressive". Peter Barron, editor of Newsnight, defended the questioning of Galloway's tactics: In 2007 a BBC Trust publication investigating impartiality in the organisation criticised an unnamed BBC news presenter for writing an article in the Daily Mirror newspaper entitled "Why the World Needs Hillary", stating they had been "unwise" for doing so. The article appeared to endorse Hillary Clinton to be the next US President and it soon emerged that the news presenter in question was Esler. The BBC report noted that "the apparent endorsement of one presidential candidate in elections in a country which, in his words, 'now seems seriously off course' could make it hard for that presenter to conduct American political interviews". Until 2017, Esler was the main presenter of Dateline London on BBC News and BBC World News most Sunday mornings at 11 am. Between 2008 and 2017, he also presented the BBC News at Five on the BBC News channel on Fridays and when Huw Edwards was away. Esler has also hosted BBC Radio 4 factual series Four Corners along with fellow Scottish broadcaster Anne MacKenzie. He had a regular slot on Saturdays and Sundays, working across BBC World, BBC News and BBC One, and co-presented the regular Film Review with Mark Kermode. On 11 March 2017, Esler confirmed via his Twitter profile that he would be leaving the BBC to concentrate on his writing activities. The