ITV political editor Robert Peston will be the opening keynote speaker at the largest regional business show in the UK next year, taking place in Kent.

The journalist, who swapped sides from the BBC earlier this year, where he was economics editor, will begin proceedings at Kent Vision Live 2017 at the Kent Showground in Detling next May.

Mr Peston is also a former city and assistant editor at the Sunday Telegraph and an ex-financial editor at the Financial Times.

Away from the cameras, he has written books on the implications of the 2008 banking crisis, including How Do We Fix This Mess and Who Runs Britain?

He has won the Royal Television Society’s Journalist of the Year, Specialist Journalist of the Year, and Scoop of the Year twice.

Rich Tribe, joint managing director of Pembury-based Revolution Events, which runs Kent Vision Live, said: “We are delighted to announce that next year’s event will be opened by a genuine heavyweight from the media world.

“With the UK on its way out of the EU, business and politics have rarely been so closely intertwined as they are at this moment in time and Robert has a unique understanding of the key factors that will shape the UK economy over the next decade.”

Kent Vision Live takes place on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, bringing together 300 exhibitors and 3,000 attendees.