{{short description|English journalist}} {{for|the Czech businessman|Petr Kellner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Peter Kellner | image = Peter Kellner, September 2009 (cropped).jpg | caption = Kellner in 2009 | birth_name = Peter Jon Kellner | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1946|10|02|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Lewes]], [[Sussex]], England | death_date = | death_place = | education = [[King's College, Cambridge]] | occupation = Journalist | spouse = {{marriage|[[Catherine Ashton|Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland]]|1988}} | children = 5 }}
'''Peter Jon Kellner''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (born 2 October 1946) is an English [[journalist]], former BBC ''[[Newsnight]]'' reporter, [[Pundit (politics)|political commentator]], and former president of the [[YouGov]] opinion polling organisation in the [[United Kingdom]]. He is known for his appearances on TV, especially at [[Elections in the United Kingdom|election times]].
== Early life == Kellner was born in [[Lewes]], [[Sussex]]. His father, Michael Kellner, was an Austrian Jew, born in 1920, who emigrated to [[Mandatory Palestine]] in 1938, after [[Kristallnacht]], and later moved to Britain.<ref>{{cite web |last=Platt |first=Edward |title=Living by numbers: YouGov and the power of the pollsters |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/04/living-numbers-yougov-and-power-pollsters |work=New Statesman |date=16 April 2015 |access-date=6 January 2017}}</ref>
He was educated at [[Haberdashers' Boys' School|Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School]], [[Cricklewood]] (and later [[Elstree]]), [[Minchenden Grammar School]], [[Southgate, London|Southgate]], North London, and the [[Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne|Royal Grammar School]], [[Newcastle upon Tyne]], and has an [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]] in economics and statistics from [[King's College, Cambridge]].
== Career == Formerly the [[Pundit|political analyst]] of the [[BBC]] ''[[Newsnight]]'' [[Current affairs (news format)|current affairs]] programme, Kellner was engaged by [[YouGov]]'s founders, [[Stephan Shakespeare]] and [[Nadhim Zahawi]], in December 2001. When YouGov floated for £18 million in April 2005, Kellner owned 6% of the company.<ref>[http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/04/interview-peter-kellner-yougov-evening.html Interview: Peter Kellner, YouGov (Evening Standard)] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20061029220705/http://www.davidrowan.com/2005/04/interview-peter-kellner-yougov-evening.html |date=29 October 2006 }}, David Rowan, 20 April 2005</ref> He was President of YouGov from 2007 until 2016, and was its Chairman from 2001 to 2007.<ref name=whoswho>{{Who's Who |title=Kellner, Peter Jon |id=U119785 |edition=2014 online |access-date=26 May 2014}}</ref>
From 1969 to 2003 he was a newspaper journalist with ''[[The Sunday Times]]'', the ''[[New Statesman]]'', ''[[The Independent]]'', ''[[The Observer]]'' and the ''[[Evening Standard]]''.<ref name=whoswho/>
He has also been a visiting fellow at [[Nuffield College, Oxford]], and the [[Institute for Policy Studies]], London and has advised several large corporations.<ref>[http://my.yougov.com/commentaries/peter-kellner.aspx Peter Kellner's Column] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091001185043/http://my.yougov.com/commentaries/peter-kellner.aspx |date=1 October 2009}}, YouGov</ref> He was the chairman of NCVO (National Council for Voluntary Organisations) until 2019<ref>{{cite web |title=NCVO begins search for new chair of trustees |url=https://www.ncvo.org.uk/news-and-insights/news-index/ncvo-begins-search-for-new-chair-of-trustees/ |access-date=12 December 2022 |website=NCVO |language=en-GB}}</ref> and visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe.
In 2011, he received a Special Recognition Award from the [[Political Studies Association]] in recognition of his achievements in "bringing polling and intelligent use of numbers and figures to election coverage".
Kellner was appointed [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in the [[2023 New Year Honours]] for charitable services as chair of the NCVO.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63918|supp=y|page=N10|date=31 December 2022}}</ref>
== Personal life == He is married to [[Catherine Ashton|Catherine Ashton, Baroness Ashton of Upholland]], a [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician, formerly [[High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy|High Representative]] of the [[European Union]] for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the first person to be so appointed. They have two children.<ref name=whoswho/> Kellner has three other children from a previous marriage dissolved in 1988.<ref name=whoswho/>
==Bibliography== * ''Callaghan: The Road to Number 10'', (with [[Christopher Hitchens]]), Cassell, 1976 {{ISBN|978-0-304-29768-9}} * ''The Civil Servants: an Inquiry into Britain's Ruling Class'' (with [[Lord Crowther-Hunt]]), 1980 * ''Democracy: 1,000 Years in Pursuit of British Liberty'', Mainstream, 2009 {{ISBN|978-1-84596-506-8}}
== References == {{reflist|2}}
==External links== * [https://yougov.co.uk/people/peter.kellner/ Peter Kellner] on [[YouGov]] website * [https://web.archive.org/web/20080209171934/http://www.2008-us-presidential-election.com/blog/peter-kellner Peter Kellner's 2008 US presidential election podcasts] * [http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/04/living-numbers-yougov-and-power-pollsters Article about Kellner] in the [[New Statesman]]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kellner, Peter}} [[Category:1946 births]] [[Category:Alumni of King's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:English columnists]] [[Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists]] [[Category:British political consultants]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:People educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne]] [[Category:The Sunday Times people]] [[Category:English people of Jewish descent]] [[Category:People educated at Haberdashers' Boys' School]] [[Category:Psephologists]] [[Category:Spouses of life peers]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire]]