A Tribute to Nick Pett - Mentor, Teacher & Friend
- 20 Jan 2019
I first met Nick Pett when he was appointed Deputy Head Teacher at my school, Saffron Walden County High (pic above). This was in the mid 1970s. He never actually taught me, but he became a good friend to me and my two sisters and also my parents. He was the kind of aut...
Mail on Sunday Column: The Brexit Wrecking Crew
- 20 Jan 2019
Of all the many colourful scenes and events surrounding the tumultuous defeat of the Prime Minister's Brexit deal last Tuesday, one image stays with me more than any other – and for all the wrong reasons. It is the mental picture of senior hard-Brexiteers including John Red...
Margaret Thatcher Party Conference Speeches
- 19 Jan 2019
1968 (?) 1980 - Margaret Thatcher deals with a heckler 1981 1982 (Six parts) 1983 Conservative Youth Rally, Wembley (June) (4 parts) 1983, Blackpool 1984, Brighton 1987
In Praise of Michael Cockerell & Watch His (Almost) Entire Back Catalogue
- 19 Jan 2019
I am a massive fan of Michael Cockerell. He's been on my TV screens reporting on political events and making superb documentaries for more than forty years. If I had to choose a list of people whose jobs I would like to have had, he would be very high on it. His style of docum...
EDP Column: What Price Loyalty? Does Parliament Reflect the Country on Brexit?
- 19 Jan 2019
Loyalty, loyalty, what price loyalty? Given the events in Parliament this week you might think that our local MPs might have shaken off the shackles of party loyalty and allegiance, but not a bit of it. Political parties are an always have been tribes. You’re elected under a p...
The Duke Should Get Behind a Wheel Today
- 18 Jan 2019
Iain Dale believes getting back behind the wheel right after a devastating car crash helped him regain confidence in driving, and says Prince Philip should do the same. pic.twitter.com/ixUFKiLwCL — Good Morning Britain (@GMB) January 18, 2019 Yesterday, at around 6pm...
EDP Column: Let's 'Renationalise' Highways England
- 13 Jan 2019
‘Fog in Channel – Continent Cut Off’ – that was a headline in The Times during Edwardian times. It signalled the high-handed, rather superior attitude we had (and possibly still have!) to our continental cousins. There is nowadays a modern day equivalent, courtesy of a governm...
I Still Couldn't Support the PM's Deal - Her Challenge is to Come Up With a Better One
- 12 Jan 2019
The headline given to my ConservativeHome diary column this week has caused a lot of comment. The comments have mainly been made by people too lazy to read the actual article and who don't realise that the author of a column doesn't write the accompanying headline. The...
Ten Signs You Have Joined the Establishment
- 12 Jan 2019
10. You get a letter from Number Ten inviting you to accept a KCMG 9. You start reading the Court & Social page of The Times. 8. You get invited to speak at the Reform Club. 7. You eat Welsh Rarebit after dessert. 6. You believe William Rees-Mogg to have been the world...
The Vuelio List of Top 50 Political Influencers
- 11 Jan 2019
Embed from Getty Images The PR & Communications outfit Vuelio has produced a list of the 50 people they consider the main influencers on the political debate/agenda in this country. No one ever agrees on who's included in this sort of list, or where they are ranked...
Evening Standard Column: Who will step in to rescue May’s Brexit?
- 10 Jan 2019
"It’s like a middle-aged swingers party waiting for the arrival of Scarlett Johansson,” chirped Michael Gove at yesterday’s first post-Christmas Cabinet meeting. “Or Pierce Brosnan…” trilled Amber Rudd. Goodness knows what the Goves and Rudds had been up to over Christmas. The...
Disgracing Myself in the Kremlin Age 13 3/4
- 9 Jan 2019
I was talking to a friend who's about to visit Moscow, so I thought I'd entertain her with a rather sordid anecdote from my first visit there in 1976, when I was a mere 13 years old. It was a trip organised by my school and we spent five days each in Leningrad (as it then w...
From the Archives: Long Read 'In Conversation with Shirley Williams'
- 7 Jan 2019
Iain: Do you enjoy Question Time? Shirley: Mostly I do. I’ve had a couple of experiences that I didn’t enjoy at all. I think almost entirely with the Hitchens brothers. I can tell you from personal experience that if you have both Hitchens, it is devastating! One thing, the...
From the Archives: Long Read Interview with Simon Heffer
- 6 Jan 2019
This is the full length version of my interview with Simon Heffer, which appears in the December 2010 edition of Total Politics. Embed from Getty Images So how have you found the change from working in a newspaper office to coming back to your old college? I’ve still ...
From the Archives: Long Read Interview with Tom Watson
- 5 Jan 2019
This is an extended version of my Total Politics interview with Tom Watson, which appeared in the January 2011 issue of the Magazine. He's incredibly open and honest about his time in government and the personal trauma he went through because of something I wrote... Embed f...
Latest Book Club Podcast: The Joan Rivers Interview
- 4 Jan 2019
Boy have I got a treat for you. As you know, every week I interview someone with a new book out for the Iain Dale Book Club podcast. Well, sometimes we pull one out of the LBC archive, and that's what we've done this week. Back in October 2012 I interviewed the wonderfu...
My First EDP/EADT Column: Why Extra Policing Should be Paid For Locally
- 4 Jan 2019
Today marks the publication of my first weekly column for the Eastern Daily Press and East Anglian Daily Times. The papers cover all of Norfolk, Suffolk, Western Cambridgeshire and North Essex. My remit is to write a political column with edge, but with relevance to the...
My New Year's Resolutions for 2019
- 31 Dec 2018
I just looked back at my the resolutions I made for 2018. Here's how I did... To be consistently under 16 stone by the end of the year. I’m 16 1/2 at the moment and have been for some time. ACHIEVED. I'm under 15 1/2 now. To say ‘no’ more often, and not feel guilty abo...
MAIL ON SUNDAY COLUMN: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
- 30 Dec 2018
On Christmas Eve the phone went and it was the Mail on Sunday. I think they had seen this tweet I had put out... FYI I'm very happy to engage in polite debate on any issue. I probably respond more than most. However, if you call me a c**t, use profane language or insult m...
An Appreciation of Sir John Redwood
- 29 Dec 2018
I'm not a massive fan of the way the Honours System operates. It's more open and transarent than it used to be, but it is undermined by the domination of honours for civil servants who are just doing their jobs. Indeed, some seem to get honours for doing their jobs very badly....