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 in Belfast was followed by a year as a political correspondent at the The Times before a move to the Guardian, where he spent eight years in the same post and, later, as European editor. Another eight years at Sunday sister paper the Observer was next, this time in the role of chief political correspondent (with a year as acting political editor cushioned in between).

Watt became one of …