ascent of New Labour under Tony Blair. He later made his mark offering irreverent reports on the 1997 General Election. Following the 1997 election, Vine became the Africa Correspondent based in Johannesburg, travelling all over Africa. Reporting assignments took him to the war front to report on the Eritrean–Ethiopian War, the Angolan Civil War, the violence in Lesotho after South African troops went in and hoisted a South African flag over the Royal Palace, following leadership disputes. He also travelled to Algiers and Kenya, to report during political elections. Vine was successful in gaining interviews with key leaders in various African nations, including Robert Mugabe, the then President of Zimbabwe, and the leader of the Islamist regime in Khartoum, Sudan. Other areas of Africa from which he has reported include Mali, Zambia, Sierra Leone and the Niger Delta (to report on the Nigerian villagers' unrest over the work of the oil companies). In April 1999, Vine presented an exclusive report on South African police brutality for BBC Two's Newsnight. The film won the Silver Nymph at the Monte Carlo Television Festival and resulted in the suspension of 22 police officers. In July 1999, the BBC announced that Vine was joining Newsnight full-time as a co-presenter, having stood in for Jeremy Paxman over the two previous summers. Paxman was reported to have called Vine "mini-me", a reference to the diminutive associate of Dr. Evil in the Austin Powers film series. Vine was one of the original presenters of Broadcasting House on BBC Radio 4 and presented The Politics Show on BBC One from its launch in 2003 until Jon Sopel took over in 2005. In May 2006, Vine was announced as Peter Snow's replacement for presenting the BBC election graphics, including the famous Swingometer. His performance on the night of the council elections in England and Wales on 30 April 2008 was widely criticised. From 2007 until 2009, Vine co-presented the Teaching Awards with Kate Thornton (2007), Myleene Klass (2008) and Christine Lampard (2009). Between 2007 and 2010, Vine was the presenter of the BBC's flagship and the world's oldest current affairs programme, Panorama, which coincided with the show's move back to a Monday peak-time slot. From 2008 to 2018, Vine presented Points of View, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan. On 6 October 2008, he started hosting the former BBC Two quiz show Eggheads while the spin-off show, Are You