Michael Binyon is a Leader Writer for The Times, where he previously served as Diplomatic Editor. After graduating from the University of Cambridge, he spent a year teaching in Minsk for the British Council, before joining The Times Educational Supplement in 1968. He then moved to the BBC Arabic Service before, in 1972, he joined The Times as a foreign correspondent. 

He covered the Middle East War in 1973, has worked for The Times in Moscow, Bonn, Washington and Brussels, and became Diplomatic Editor in 1991. He is a frequent broadcaster on the BBC and overseas television stations and has won two British press awards. He has also published a book entitled Life in Russia (1984). Binyon was awarded the OBE in 2000.