David Torrance was born and brought up in Edinburgh and educated at Leith Academy, the University of Aberdeen and Cardiff University's School of Journalism. He began his journalistic career on the Edinburgh Evening News before moving into television as a presenter, producer and reporter for Scottish and Grampian Television (later STV), working on current affairs shows including The Week In Politics, Seven Days, North Tonight and Politics Now.

After a couple of years working for an MP at the House of Commons (David Mundell, later Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland) and dabbling in PR, David Torrance established himself as a freelance writer, journalist and broadcaster, appearing regularly on the BBC, STV and Sky as a pundit while since late 2013 he has been a weekly columnist for The Herald newspaper.



David Torrance has also written or edited more than a dozen books on Scottish politics and history including 'We in Scotland' - Thatcherism in a Cold Climate (Birlinn, 2009), an unauthorised biography of the Scottish First Minister, Salmond: Against the Odds (Birlinn, 2010, 2011 & 2015), The Battle for Britain: Scotland and the Independence Referendum (Biteback, 2013) and, most recently, Nicola Sturgeon: A Political Life (Birlinn, 2015).

David currently divides his time between London and Edinburgh.