In more ways than one can count, it has been an unusual year for Westminster’s harried and hallowed lobby correspondents. Nick Watt, Newsnight’s increasingly long-haired political editor, is no exception. Watt succeeded Allegra Stratton in the role but must now work closely with the Downing Street press secretary, even if the White House-style briefings don’t seem to be going ahead as anticipated. (A Cummings invention, they went out the door when he did.) The York-educated journalist joined the Times as a trainee reporter in 1990, but gained what has arguably been his most important role three years later. During the mid-1990s it was by no means obvious the peace process in Ireland would succeed, but as the paper’s Ireland correspondent, Watt was well placed to cut his teeth covering one of the British Isles’ biggest stories in dec- ades. Based in Belfast, Watt kept a watchful eye both on the last phase of the Troubles and the multilateral efforts to bring them to a halt. Watt’s stint...