# Tim Stanley

Timothy Randolph Stanley (born 1 April 1982) is a British journalist, author and historian.

## Early life

Educated at the Judd School, a grammar school in Tonbridge, Kent, Stanley taught as a gap student at Solefield School, Sevenoaks, before studying Modern History at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated as Bachelor of Arts (BA).
Stanley then pursued further studies at the University of Cambridge, completing a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degree, then taking a doctorate of Philosophy (PhD): his doctoral thesis was on Edward M. Kennedy's role in the US Democratic Party in the 1980s, which was published in 2010 as his first solo book, Kennedy vs. Carter: The 1980 Battle for the Democratic Party's Soul.
Active in student journalism at Cambridge and, contributing to student newspaper Varsity, Stanley unsuccessfully ran for a sabbatical post on Cambridge University Students' Union. Standing in 2007 as Welfare Officer, his manifesto comprised a handwritten note simply stating: "This is hand-written because I was too drunk to write a manifesto. There is no better testament to my character."

## Academic career

Stanley held lectureships at the University of Sussex (2008–09) and Royal Holloway College, London (2009–11) and, from 2011 to 2012, he became an Associate Member of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford, receiving a Leverhulme Trust Grant.
In November 2011, Stanley organised a conference called History: What is it good for?, which generated some controversy after one of the speakers, David Starkey, said that the national curriculum in British schools overlooks British culture.

## Media

A columnist with The Daily Telegraph, Stanley has also been a regular contributor to CNN, reporting on American politics and culture, including the 2016 and subsequent election campaigns. He contributes to History Today and Literary Review, and has written pieces for The Guardian and The Spectator.
Stanley wrote and presented a documentary for the BBC entitled Family Guys? What Sitcoms Say About America Now, which was broadcast in October 2012. He is also an occasional pundit on BBC News, CNBC, Sky News and Channel 4 News.
He has presented BBC Radio 4's Thought for the Day, is a contributor on The Moral Maze and has appeared several times on the panel of BBC's Question Time. and Politics Live.

## Politics

Joining the Labour Party at the age of 15, Stanley was Chairman of Cambridge University Labour Club for 2003/04, and stood as the Labour candidate for his home constituency of Sevenoaks at the 2005 general election, coming third. He has since distanced himself from Labour, and has argued in support of the Republican Party in the United States. At the 2017 UK general election, Stanley allied himself with the Conservative Party, voting for them again in 2019. Stanley announced his voting preference in favour of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) at the 2024 UK general election, preferring its emphasis on national solidarity to that of the Reform Party whose focus was on British exceptionalism.
Stanley supports the UK leaving the European Union.

## Personal life

A kinsman of the earls of Derby, he was raised as a Baptist. In 2002 he began to consider himself to be an Anglican, and was baptised as an Anglican at Little St. Mary's, Cambridge, in New Year 2003. He subsequently aligned himself with the Church of England's Anglo-Catholic wing, before being received into the Catholic Church, aged 23.
Stanley lives in Kent with a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named "Bertie Jennings".