Hanna's freelance journalism was noticed by
The Sunday Times editor
Harold Evans, who offered him a job as an industrial relations correspondent. He embraced his new career with an enthusiasm that irritated some of his less committed colleagues. He was recruited by the
BBC Current Affairs department in 1973 and became well known for his
Newsnight coverage of by-elections. Fellow journalist
Andrew Marr said his filmed reports were "a new kind of political reporting, much copied and never rivalled, which ended forever the era when parliamentary by-elections were obscure and largely unreported contests". His third campaign was spent doggedly pursuing candidates with difficult questions. Very few escaped unscathed. At
Darlington in March 1983, Hanna's broadcasts helped to destroy the campaign of
SDP candidate Tony Cook, who had been the early favourite to win. In 1984, Hanna's impartiality came into question when he failed to disguise his support for tactical voting in some reports on the
Chesterfield by-election of that year. The
Labour candidate,
Tony Benn, accused him of acting as the SDP candidate. During the
Greenwich by-election of February 1987, he publicly accused
Angela Rumbold, a
Conservative Minister, of being a liar. Rumbold had cross-examined him over the alleged impartiality of a public opinion poll which showed the SDP candidate closing on the Labour candidate. ==Later career==