Gavin William James Esler (born 27 February 1953) is a Scottish journalist, television presenter and author. He was a main presenter on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight, from January 2003 until January 2014, and presenter of BBC News at Five on the BBC News Channel. Since 2014 he has served as the Chancellor of the University of Kent. On 11 March 2017, Esler confirmed via his Twitter profile that he would be leaving the BBC at the end of the month to concentrate on his writing activities. He returned to the BBC later that year as host of Talking Books. He stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for Change UK in London at the 2019 European Parliament election. Early life Esler was born in Glasgow on 27 February 1953, the first son born to a manager of a building company. During his first weeks, he suffered from a condition that made him unable to digest milk and his parents feared for his life. He had an operation at just three weeks old. His family lived in Clydebank before they moved to Edinburgh, where he began his education at Duddingston Primary School before gaining a scholarship to George Heriot's School at the age of seven. His Scottish childhood had a profound and long-lasting effect on him. His parents moved to Northern Ireland but he remained in Edinburgh. Esler was the first in his family to go to university, graduating at the University of Kent with a BA in English and American literature in 1974. Alongside his studies he also wrote for Incant, the university newspaper. He then gained an MA in Anglo-Irish literature with distinction from the University of Leeds. Journalism career Esler began working as a journalist in 1976, aged 23, as a junior reporter with the Belfast Telegraph. He joined the BBC in 1977 as Northern Ireland reporter, working under Bernard Cornwell, and extended his role after joining Newsnight in 1982. Esler was appointed Washington correspondent in 1989 and then, a year later, became the BBC's chief North America correspondent. Based in Washington, Esler's responsibilities now extended to shaping the corporation's coverage across the whole of North America, which included reporting on both the earlier George H. W. Bush and Clinton administrations. Esler has also reported for news and documentary programmes across Europe, Russia, China and North and South America. Esler combined reporting with presenting from the mid-1980s