From Downing to DC: Rob Crilly’s journalism journey
From the West Range to the West Wing – Rob Crilly (1992) is at the centre of world politics working as Chief U.S Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.
In a moment of White House calm, Rob took the time to tell us all about life in the Oval Office, his journalistic journey and some sage advice for aspiring writers.
Can you tell us about your journey from studying Natural Sciences at Downing to becoming Chief U.S. Correspondent for the Daily Telegraph?
Nothing about it was conventional. After Downing I went to Nottingham for a PhD in the ethics of genetic engineering. But it wasn’t for me. I wrote 90 letters to newspapers and got one interview. I started at the Chester Chronicle as a sub-editor in June 1999. I then worked my way up, through Scottish newspapers, and then quit to become a freelance foreign correspondent in Nairobi 20 years ago.
Fast forward to 2015, and I was writing for the Telegraph in New York and watched in the atrium of Trump Tower as Donald Trump rode the golden escalator into politics. From there it was a short hop to DC to cover him full time.
What sparked your interest in journalism?
My father was a journalist, so I grew up with news, newspapers and Radio 4. I tried to do something else with my life, anything else (see above), but the news just drew me back.
What's a typical day (or week!) like for you as a Chief US Correspondent? I know it can change a lot, but what are some of the consistent things you do?
There is of course nothing typical. But it revolves completely around the White House and what Trump is doing. So, I might head there first thing, to chat up his officials and see if they might give me a steer on what to expect. Then it is a case of monitoring any of his events (some are closed to press, some are open to a small pool, some are open to the whole White House press corps) to see whether he makes news with a big announcement, or a squabble with a visiting leader, or a new executive order. Then it is a mad scramble to write up some copy and publish as fast as possible.
Some weeks might involve travel. I was on Air Force One for Trump’s first weekend back in office. You can hear my voice asking him at the back of the plane about his plans for Gaza. And I am recently back from Paris and Munich, which I visited with the Vice-President.
If I am lucky there’s time for a coffee with a source in the morning or a quick drink in the evening. But the pace of this White House makes it hard to look away for a second.
There is a lot of attention on the White House right now. What is it like working in such an intense, ever-changing environment?
Invigorating and exhausting, depending on what time of day you ask me. The frustrations are that Trump makes so much news by himself that there is no time to dig away at exclusives or original reporting. But who wouldn’t want to have a front-row seat at the biggest story on the planet?
What are the most essential writing skills you've found crucial in your career, especially for reporting on complex topics for an international audience?
Know your audience and be your own best editor. The secret to so much good writing is knowing what to leave out. The sparer your prose the better it reads, in my opinion. And your readers never know what you cut. There is always more detail you could add to any story and there is always more knowledge you could display. But if you keep your audience in mind and remember they don’t always need to know every tiny twist and turn of a story, then your writing is pacier and more approachable.
How do you balance the need for speed in reporting with the need for accuracy and in-depth analysis?
Again, less is more. Writers get into trouble when they push things too far, too fast. I have made mistakes by rushing. We all have. It is part of the game.
But the flip side of that, I think, is to be honest when you have made a mistake. Own it. That helps address that balance and can ensure trust with readers and colleagues.
How has the digital age changed the way you work and write? What are the biggest challenges and opportunities?
It has changed everything. When I started, I would sometimes feed coins into a pay phone and read my story (written long hand on a pad) to a copy taker. Now I can transmit copy myself, anywhere, anytime. That is incredibly powerful.
But the biggest headache for me now is that my Editor now sees almost everything I see. When I was a foreign correspondent in Nairobi, I could tell them what they needed to know. Now, an editor with only passing familiarity with US politics in London, can see a tweet and tell me what the story should be. Sometimes that is a help. Sometimes less so.
When you were a student, what were the most useful writing skills you gained? Do you have any advice for current students about how to improve their writing?
It didn’t help that I did physical sciences for the first year. Not many writing skills needed. But I think in the next two years, writing essays on biological sciences and the history and philosophy of science helped me find ways to condense complex ideas into simple language. And the key to that was understanding the philosophical ideas or biochemical pathways about which I was writing.
My advice (or warning) is that it is easy to spot someone who is writing about something they have not quite grasped.
What advice would you give to aspiring journalists and writers?
Read, read, read. I think I learned everything I know about writing by reading other writers. I devoured novels from a young age and loved reading popular science writers as I got older. Learn by osmosis.
Also, when I wrote my book on the war in Darfur, I wrote it in longhand. I would go through my notes or transcribed interviews and write up page after page on an A4 pad. Each day I would then type up what I had. That slower process of letting my thoughts run through my pen really helped me craft the language as I went.
What's the most memorable story you've covered, and why?
Probably the ‘teddy bear teacher.’ An English teacher was arrested and convicted of blasphemy in Khartoum after her class named a teddy bear ‘Mohammed’ in 2007.
I just happened to be there at the time. And I was one of a small handful of foreign correspondents who covered the whole thing – arrest, court case, punishment, diplomatic talks, pardon – from start to finish. Visas were tough to come by so it was almost impossible for other journalists to get into the country.
Every day was a rush of adrenaline, TV hits, reporting and it was all over in less than a fortnight. (Which was just as well … the place I was staying had run out of gin) I even managed to snag a seat on the same Emirates flight home as the teacher.
It was a bonkers yet important story. A killer headline with a message. It said something profound about Sudan, political Islam and international relations.
What are your key memories/takeaways from your time at Downing?
That a healthy dose of imposter syndrome is no bad thing!
And obviously the main thing is the lifelong friends. The ones that I have tended to stick with are the ones with the sort of intellectual curiosity and sense of adventure that refresh and invigorate me when we meet up today.
Who is your favourite writer/author?
Almost impossible to narrow it down to one person. But if you forced me … Dave Eggers, who seems to be able to straddle fiction and nonfiction and everything in between in a very contemporary way.
What is your favourite book?
Dave Eggers’ ‘What is the What’, about a child soldier from South Sudan, is part novel part biography, and manages to capture the soul of a place in an extraordinary way. (It will be someone else and a different book if you ask me tomorrow … probably something by Margaret Atwood.)
Published 19 May 2025