Barkes- broadcaster, jounalist and chief of staff.

In 2021, Duncan decided to get closer to the political world and took a job for a year as Head of Office and Senior Parliamentary Assistant to Simon Jupp, Conservative MP for East Devon. As well as managing both the Westminster and constituency offices, he provided media and policy advice to the MP and played an integral part in getting him elected to the highly influential DCMS committee. Duncan now works in public affairs for the NHS in Sussex where he uses his skills and experience to keep local MPs informed of the latest changes in local healthcare provision.

He remains plugged into and engaged with the U.K. political scene and is keen to use his background and experience in a return to presenting.

Until Feb 21 Duncan was the early breakfast weekend broadcaster across the UK for BBC Local Radio and Radio 5. Prior to this he took the BBC Radio London late show at 10pm to a record audience high.

As well as his late night show on BBC Radio London, Duncan also covered the all-speech breakfast and drive sequences on the station. He has anchored special coverage of the EU Referendum, the London Elections and two General Elections for BBC Radio London, along with providing coverage of the London and Westminster Bridge terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire. He also presented a nightly show whilst London was in lockdown because of Covid-19. 

Duncan’s other BBC work includes presenting on BBC Radio Five Live and covering for Stephen Nolan and the ‘Up All Night’ shows, along with presenting ‘The Newsroom’ on the BBC World Service which is heard globally and also on BBC Radio 4 through the night.

A very well-respected broadcast journalist Duncan was previously nominated for BPG’s Radio Programme of the Year Award. 

Prior to this Duncan was the late-night voice of LBC attracting record listening figures for the station having worked for the award winning station for 4 years.

Prior to hosting the popular overnight slot on LBC, Barkes was the nocturnal voice at talkSPORT, presenting the 1-6am overnight current affairs slot during the week. Here he increased the number of people listening by 20%. His radio experience also includes programming and managing a number of award-winning stations across the South of England. Presenting shows at BBC Southern Counties Radio, Radio City 96.7, City Talk 105.9 and Spirit FM enabled him to develop his love of talk radio.

Barkes has a rich and varied media background as a media consultant. He has successfully managed press offices and agency PR departments. He has a credible background in campaigning on a number of issues including social campaigns protecting local health services to national campaigns conceived to raise awareness on a number of issues. Barkes has also acted as a media consultant and has worked with a number of organisations and individuals to raise their profile and get their message heard. This included a number of high-profile politicians and MPs.

Duncan has written columns for the Daily Telegraph and Daily Express on topics as diverse as sausages, music festivals, tattoos and securing the working-class vote. For eight years he wrote a weekly syndicated column for a number of local newspapers across Sussex.  

Barkes has also contributed to BBC 2's political programmes and for many years sat on the Sky News sofa previewing the next day’s newspapers. He also worked extensively with Sir Trevor McDonald on ITV when Sir Trevor chose Duncan’s radio show in Liverpool to research people’s attitudes to immigration in 2009. 

Away from broadcast journalism Duncan’s passions include sausages and jazz. He presents and produces a regular podcast about sausages called ‘Prick With A Fork’ and worked for Jazz FM hosting their ‘FT Weekend Breakfast’ strand under the ‘nom de plume’ of Tom Dudley. Sausages and jazz aside, Duncan spends his spare time working on becoming a first-class trencherman and looking at boats to buy.