Political journalist Chris Moncrieff will be the guest speaker at the Society of Editors annual dinner in October.

The Press Association journalist will provide his own insight into events of the past year such as the Hutton inquiry and difficulties between the Government and the BBC.

The veteran reporter has been at Westminster longer than any MP now sitting in the House, having joined the news agency's parliamentary staff in 1962.

He began his journalism career on a local newspaper in Harrogate, before moving on to the Coventry Evening Telegraph and then the Nottingham Evening Post.

His syndicated coloumn has graced the pages of many regional newspapers across the country.

The gala dinner will take place at the Imperial War Museum on Monday, October 13, and is part of the SoE conference that opens on the evening of October 12 with a lecture by Press Complaints Commission chairman Sir Christopher Meyer.

A host of other speakers from across the media will also address the conference, which runs until October 14.

These include regional press editors Mike Gilson of The News in Portsmouth, Nick Carter of the Leicester Mercury, Paul Horrocks from the Manchester Evening News, Hannah Walker of the South London Press and Terry Manners from the Western Daily Press.

To book a delegate place at the conference or for more information e-mail info@societyofeditors.org or visit www.societyofeditors.org.

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