A Tribute to Sir David Frost
- 1 Sep 2013
Sir David Frost, who died this morning, will go down in history as one of the greatest interviewers and journalists of his generation – perhaps of all time. His laconic style hid a forensic brain, determined to get to the truth. He didn’t believe in confrontation as a form o...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 20: Bomber Clegg
- 31 Aug 2013
There we were, in the Any Questions Green Room, the panel of four, all cacking ourselves before being called on stage. So we did what anyone would do. We discussed what questions might come up. And to my horror, no matter what the potential subject, we all more or less agreed ...
Why I Oppose Military Action in Syria
- 28 Aug 2013
I want to explain why I think military action against Syria would be wrong and why the UK should stay out of it at all costs. I am not a natural peacenik. I believe that foreign intervention can often be justified. I supported the invasion of Iraq. I supported the invasion of ...
Book Review: Don't Bite the Apple by Luke Bozier
- 26 Aug 2013
This is a book about sex addiction and computer hacking, and how those two things led to one man’s life imploding in front of his eyes. That man is Luke Bozier, a digital politics specialist who advised Tony Blair but then incurred the wrath of the New Labour establishment by...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 19: The Perils of Appearing on 'Any Questions'
- 23 Aug 2013
Tonight I’ll be on Radio 4’s Any Questions. It’s the fourth time I’ll have appeared on the programme, so you’d think I would be used to it, but not a bit of it. It’s one of those programmes where there’s a tremendous opportunity to make a complete idiot of yourself. I have a r...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 18: My Perky Buttocks & Why I Won't Be Voting For Dan Hannan
- 16 Aug 2013
I’m afraid Dan Hannan will have to do without my vote in next year’s Euro-elections. I can’t and won’t vote for a list that has Marta Andreasen on it. She’s not a Conservative, never has been and never will be. I’m not even sure that she is eligible to stand. Has she really g...
Join my Fantasy Football League!
- 11 Aug 2013
Each year, I run a Fantasy Football League. Hundreds of people take part each season. Today I am launching next season’s league and inviting you to take part and submit a team. Click here. When you’ve registered your details, follow the instructions to select your team. When...
Attitude Column: Are You Born Gay Or Is It a 'Lifestyle Choice?'
- 10 Aug 2013
This is my first regular monthly column for ATTITUDE MAGAZINE, Britain’s leading gay lifestyle magazine, which appeared in the August issue. Seeing as it’s been out a few weeks now I thought I’d give it a wider audience. I’ve always known I was gay. Well, when I say always, ...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 17: Why I Like Polly Toynbee
- 10 Aug 2013
If you were drawing up a list of the 20 nicest MPs, Labour’s Alan Johnson would get more than his fair share of nominations. He is a formidable politician who surely still has a future in front line politics. But last Friday, when I was interviewing him about his new book, Thi...
LISTEN AGAIN: Alan Johnson Talks About His Childhood
- 5 Aug 2013
On Friday I interviewed former Labour Home Secretary Alan Johnson about his book, THIS BOY, which covers his somewhat unusual childhood. What a thoroughly nice guy, and what a fascinating story. Listen HERE
A Weekend in Norfolk
- 4 Aug 2013
As a child I used to love mucking around in the garden. I had my own vegetable patch and loved to help my mother pottering around in her green house. But once I entered my teenage years, any affinity to gardening went out of the window. But last week something peculiar happen...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 16: How Big Is Wee Dougie's Sword
- 2 Aug 2013
It’s interesting that Lynton Crosby is being blamed for virtually everything the government does now – good or bad. This is a good thing. It means that it’s clear that he frightens the living daylights out of the opposition. The latest manifestation of this phenomenon is these...
It Shouldn't Happen to a Radio Presenter 11: Interviewing Badly Briefed MPs
- 30 Jul 2013
It’s never a good idea to issue a spur of the moment press release as inevitable you will live to regret it. That’s what happened to Labour MP Barry Gardiner today. In the prep for our show on LBC today, we noticed a tweet from a Labour council candidate, Matthew Kercher. It r...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 15: Can Kevin Rudd Imitate Lazarus?
- 26 Jul 2013
As the Australian election campaign cranks up a gear, Kevin Rudd, the new Australian Prime Ministerseems to be attracting quite a bit of media hostility. The Aussie media, having encouraged him to overthrow Julia Gillard, is now turning on him. The Australian Spectator has cal...
LBC 97.3: Iain Dale Talks to Gyles Brandreth About Happiness & the Royal Baby
- 22 Jul 2013
This week I am standing in for Nick Ferrari, presenting the LBC Breakfast show. Today I had a rather hilarious encounter with Gyles Brandreth, who was supposed to be coming in to talk about his new one man Edinburgh Fringe show, but that all went awry when news of the royal ba...
Book Review: DOMINION by C J Sansom
- 20 Jul 2013
If you are a fan of counterfactual history, and you wonder what might have happened in May 1940 had Lord Halifax become prime minister rather than Winston Churchill, then you will love this book. The author, C J Sansom, is a strange cove. he rose to prominence with a highly s...
LBC 97.3 Drive: This Is What We Do...
- 10 Jul 2013
if you’ve never listened to my radio show, have a quick listen to these three audioboos from yesterday’s show. Because this is what we do… (And if you listen to only one, make it the last one. Especially if you want to know how I can be ‘cured’ of being gay!) listen to ‘Far l...
Book Review: 'Strictly Ann' by Ann Widdecombe
- 7 Jul 2013
I first met Ann Widdecombe at Politico’s, the bookshop in Westminster I used to own, in April 1997. She came in and bought ten copies of Derek Lewis’s account of his time as director of HM Prison Service. She plonked them on the counter, I looked her squarely in the eye and ra...
ConservativeHome Diary Week 14: Five MPs Who Won't Get Promoted But Should
- 5 Jul 2013
What is it with Tory MPs at the moment? There must be something in the air. Last week Crispin Blunt ‘mwah mwah’d’ me, and this week I got a bear hug from Mark Pritchard, who had come into the LBC studio to talk about MPs’ pay. It’s just not British! Anyway, credit to Pritchard...
Winning Radio Presenter of the Year - Who'd Have Thought?!
- 4 Jul 2013
I’ll try to keep this short. Last night at the Arqiva Awards I won Radio Presenter of the Year. That has to rate as one of the proudest moments of my life. I was up against Real Radio’s Dixie & Gayle and Absolute’s Frank Skinner. To be acknowledged like that by your peers...