Weigh in
- 10 Feb 2004
Released this today... Iain Dale’s Pound for £1 Challenge He may look a fine figure of a man, but believe it or not, North Norfolk Conservative Parliamentary Candidate Iain Dale weighs in at a phenomenal 18 stones – yes, 252lbs. Between March 1st and June 26th he aims ...
A Letter to Politico's Customers
- 10 Feb 2004
A letter written to my customers at Politico's today... I am writing to tell you that Politico's is relocating to Kent on 12 March and continuing as an internet/mail order business at www.politicos.co.uk. Our shop in Artillery Row will close on 12 March. Nearly 50% of the ...
A Busy Few Days
- 6 Feb 2004
Drove up from London on Wednesday night and this week I didn't even manage to have my mobile phone stolen. On the way up stopped off to speak to Cambridge University Conservatives on the subject of The Tories & the Media. Had a good and lively audience of rather unsterotyp...
Speech to Cambridge University Conservatives on the Media
- 4 Feb 2004
Thank you for inviting me back to the City of my birth to speak to you this evening on The Tories and the Media. With the background noise of the Hutton Report still ringing in our ears it is perhaps a good time to reflect on our relationship with the media, a relationship whi...
A Weekend of Different Experiences
- 1 Feb 2004
On Friday afternoon I held a pensions forum with David Willetts, which went very well indeed. He's such an expert on the subject. It's a hugely important issue in North Norfolk and we invited a range of pensioner groups to participate. I am appalled that the EDP, despite sendi...
Not a Good Day
- 30 Jan 2004
Yesterday was one of those days you just wish would end. At about mid day I got a call from my accountants to say that I had to be double the amount of tax I thought I had to pay - and all by Saturday if you please. We then had the Hutton Report (or do I mean whitewash?). I th...
Expenses? That Would be Nice!
- 24 Jan 2004
I keep being asked by people about my 'expenses'. They seem to think that as a candidate all my expenses are paid. I wish! I am obliged to tell such people that as a candidate you don't get any recompense from anyone whatsoever. Your only reward comes when the electorate, in t...
First Visitors
- 17 Jan 2004
Had the first visitors to the new house this evening. Sylvia and Bert very kindly put me up for the first three months of my candidacy in North Norfolk and must be pleased to see the back of me! In fact four different people offered to put me up until I found a house, which be...
Moving
- 15 Jan 2004
Just a quick entry this morning as I am about to go and record a half hour programme for Anglia TV for their Sunday lunchtime slot (12.00pm on Sunday if you'd like to tune in). It's to discuss how legislation is made. Who influences the process and could we do it any better?I'...
Greshams Lecture: What is the Conservative Party For?
- 9 Jan 2004
At Greshams School, Holt WHAT IS THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY FOR? The title of this lecture is intended to be a little provocative – what is the Conservartive Party for? And I don’t mean in the sense of – it’s for hanging, or it’s for low taxes, I mean what is its purpo...
Oops, I've Done it Again
- 2 Jan 2004
Oops, I've done it again. Here's a self explanatory press release... As the controversy over the Radio 4 Today Programme Listerner's Law Poll continues, North Norfolk Conservative Candidate Iain Dale today revealed that the Tony Martin Law was shortlisted at his insistence...
Today Programme Listener's Law Judgement
- 23 Dec 2003
Had a riotous time this morning. Up at 6am to go to the BBC to judge the shortlist for the Today Programme's Listener's Law competition with Labour MP Steve Pound and my friend Julia Hartley-Brewer, the glam political editor of the Sunday Express. We chose a representative sel...
Book Review: The Devil's Tune by Iain Duncan Smith
- 22 Nov 2003
Just imagine that you are an aspiring Tory MP – yes, I know it’s difficult, but stick with me – and the week after you become an approved Parliamentary candidate you are sent the manuscript of a political thriller with a view to your company publishing it. And then you fi...
Guardian Column: Kinder, Gentler...
- 11 Nov 2003
When George Bush senior said in his inaugural speech that he wanted his Presidency to represent a ‘kinder, gentler America’ he could hardly have foreseen that his vision would be turned into reality so quickly – not just in America but in Britain too. Yeah, right, I hear you ...
Speech to South West Norfolk Conservatives
- 5 Nov 2003
Mr President, Mr Chairman, Gillian, Ladies & Gentlemen, this is the first time I have been allowed out of North Norfolk to make a speech since my selection only 5 weeks ago. And how prescient it was of you to invite me all those months ago when you couldn’t have known abo...
Speech to the Small Business Forum
- 29 Oct 2003
Owning and running a small business - a comparatively new small business at that - is something best done by a masochist. Why else would anyone put themselves through the torture that is part and parcel of today’s short termist business environment? It’s one hassle after anoth...
Who Will Be at the Top of Politics in Ten Years Time?
- 15 Oct 2003
Feature in The Politico As I write this (in October 2003) it is entirely conceivable that within three months Tony Blair could be ousted as Prime Minister and a General Election could follow. A matter of weeks ago, Iain Duncan Smith was considered a dead duck. If the Iraq w...
Speech to North Norfolk Conservatives
- 28 Sep 2003
Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s an honour for me to be considered by you to be your Parliamentary candidate for the next election. I want to start by saying that I think I know how you’re feeling. You’re sick and tired of Norman Lamb. You’re fed up with seeing his name in t...
Greater Love Hath No Man...
- 16 Sep 2003
I got a call today from the Independent asking me to write 90 words on the following subject: "Would you ditch a friend if they were damaging your career?" Echoes of Carole Capilin & Cherie. This is what I wrote... Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his f...
Interviewing Michael Foot at 90
- 5 Jul 2003
Iain Dale describes what it’s like to interview Michael Foot Twenty years ago, almost to the day, I was heckling Michael Foot at a packed election meeting in a disused church in Norwich. He, of course loved it, and I helped turned a pedestrian election speech...