Iain Dale
Iain Campbell Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author and political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. In 2005, he became the first openly gay Conservative candidate to contest a parliamentary election. He was the publisher of the magazine "Total Politics" between 2008 and 2012, and the managing director of Biteback Publishing until May 2018. Since September 2010, he has hosted a regular, major discussion show on the radio station LBC. He was named Radio Presenter of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards in  both 2013 and 2016. Education and early career. Dale was born in Cambridge and grew up in Essex, where he attended Ashdon County Primary School and Saffron Walden County High School. After a gap year in which he worked as a nursing assistant at the Werner Wicker Klinik in West Germany, he read German, linguistics and teaching English as a foreign language at the University of East Anglia; his course included a year in which he taught English at the gymnasium in Besigheim. He was awarded an upper second class honours BA in 1985. Dale was a research assistant to  the Conservative Member of Parliament Patrick Thompson (1985–87), the public affairs manager for the British Ports Federation (1987–89), a financial journalist with "Lloyd's List" (1989–90) and then the deputy managing director of the Waterfront Partnership and the managing director of the Waterfront Conference Company (1990–96). Bookseller and publisher. In 1997, Dale opened Politico's Bookstore and Coffee House in Westminster, selling political books, memorabilia and novelty items. The shop spawned sister publishing and web design businesses that shared the Politico's brand. In 1998, he expanded his operation with the creation of a publishing division, Politico's Publishing, which  he sold to Methuen Publishing in 2003. In 2004, he announced the closure of his bricks-and-mortar outlet and relocated his business to Kent as a mail-order operation. Later that year, Methuen re-opened his former premises as the Westminster Bookshop. In 2006, Dale sold his Politico's Bookstore business to Harriman House. In 2012, he relaunched Politico's online as part of his Biteback Publishing business. He was also the publisher of "Total Politics" magazine from June 2008 until its sale to Dods (Group) PLC in December 2012. Columnist and author. Dale wrote a fortnightly column for  The Daily Telegraph from 2007 to 2009. He has also written for "The Guardian", "The Independent", "GQ", "The Spectator", "Attitude" and the "New Statesman". Between 2006 and 2013, Dale wrote a weekly diary column for the "Eastern Daily Press". In December 2018, it was announced that would contribute a new weekly column to both the "Eastern Daily Press" and its Archant stablemate, the "East Anglian Daily Times". Dale has written or edited 46 political books. This includes co-authoring, in May 2006, a book with fellow blogger Paul Staines (responsible for the Guido Fawkes website) about alleged instances of sleaze  from the Labour government since it took office in 1997. A second edition was published in June 2007. Dale has written histories of West Ham United and Norwich City football clubs for Haynes Publishing, and in 2015, wrote a book called "The NHS: Things That Need to be Said" for Elliott & Thompson. His most recent book was co-edited by the former Labour Home Secretary Jacqui Smith and is a collection of biographical essays of every female MP elected to the House of Commons since 1918. Titled "Honourable Ladies", a second volume was due to appear later in 2019. Radio  broadcaster. Dale got his break in radio on BBC Radio 5 Live, where he was the regular cover for Andrew Pierce on "Sunday Service" with Fi Glover and Charlie Whelan. He presented a documentary on how the BBC covers general election results, "Counting Chickens" on the night of the 2001 general election, 7 June 2001. He also presented BBC Radio Four's "The Westminster Hour", "People & Politics" on the BBC World Service and a number of episodes of "What the Papers Say" between 2010 and 2016. Dale was a stand-in presenter for the London radio station LBC 97.3 during  the first nine months of 2010 after doing a couple of test programmes with other journalists. He co-presented LBC's six-hour election night programme on 7 May 2010, with Gaby Hinsliff. In May and June 2010, he presented the Petrie Hosken, Clive Bull, James Max and Jeni Barnett phone-in shows, and on 22 June 2010 fronted LBC's budget coverage. In late July 2010, Dale started a six-week stint on LBC covering for Petrie Hosken and Andrew Pierce, which later turned into a regular show. Dale was the weekly evening presenter on LBC from 7 to  10pm until March 2013, when Clive Bull took over. Dale instead replaced broadcaster James Whale as the presenter of the "Drivetime" show between 4pm and 7pm Monday to Friday. He continued to present the station's "Sunday Politics" show between 10am and 1pm each weekend for a further few weeks in March 2013 until Andrew Gilligan took over. On 3 September 2018, LBC changed their autumn schedule: Dale moved to the evening show (7–10pm), while Eddie Mair joined the station to take over Drivetime. Dale formerly presented "Planet Politics" on Oneword Radio. He was also  the chief presenter on the failed internet TV station 18 Doughty Street. Dale was shortlisted for Speech Radio Programme of the Year at the 2013 Sony Radio Academy Awards, and then went on to win Radio Presenter of the Year at the 2013 and 2016 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards. He won a Silver Sony for Interview of the Year at the 2014 Sony Awards for his interview with James from Woolwich, who was an eyewitness to the murder of Lee Rigby. Dale currently co-hosts a weekly political and current affairs podcast, entitled 'For The Many', alongside former Home Secretary  and Labour MP Jacqui Smith. Television broadcaster. Dale has often appeared on "Newsnight", "The Andrew Marr Show", "Jeremy Vine" and "Good Morning Britain". Conservative candidate and blogger. In May 2005, Dale stood in the general election as the Conservative candidate for North Norfolk, losing to the Liberal Democrat incumbent, Norman Lamb. Lamb was elected with a 10,000 plus majority, more than 20 times the 483 that he achieved at the previous election, which he fought against David Prior. Subsequently, Dale acted as the chief of staff to the losing leadership candidate David Davis in the run-up to the 2005  Conservative Party leadership campaign. In August 2006, it was confirmed that Dale had been added to the Conservative A-List of candidates to fight the next general election. He unsuccessfully applied for the Conservative candidacy for the safe seat Maidstone and The Weald. In October 2009, Dale ran for selection for the Conservative safe seat of Bracknell in order to succeed Andrew MacKay, who stepped down at the 2010 general election. Dale came third in the run-off ballot behind Rory Stewart and the eventual winner Philip Lee. Dale's blog, entitled "Iain Dale's Diary", had been one of  the most widely read political blogs in the UK. It was nominated by "The Guardian" for the Political Blog of the Year Award in 2005. On 17 June 2010, Dale announced on his blog that he was resigning from the Conservative Party candidates list and would not be standing at any forthcoming parliamentary election. On 14 December 2010, Dale announced that he was quitting both blogging at "Iain Dale's Diary" and party politics. In July 2011, Dale started a collaborative blog site, "Dale & Co", with many contributors from the political spectrum, including himself. He continues to author a blog  entitled "West Ham Till I Die" where he writes on West Ham United. Dale writes a weekly diary column for the website ConservativeHome, where he also publishes his annual list of the '100 most influential people on the Right'. In the 2016 EU referendum, Dale voted for "Leave". Police caution for assault. On 24 September 2013, Dale became involved in a scuffle with Manchester pensioner Stuart Holmes, an anti-nuclear protester, on the Brighton seafront. Holmes' placard had appeared on-screen behind Damian McBride, during an interview with McBride on breakfast television, coinciding with the Labour Party annual conference there . McBride, a former special advisor to Gordon Brown, is one of Dale's authors at Biteback Publishing. Dale, who was not involved in the television interview, attempted to physically remove Holmes from the shot, resulting in the two men grappling on the ground. On 26 September, Dale accepted a police caution for the assault. Sussex Police had interviewed both men about the incident. Dale subsequently posted an apology "to Mr Holmes, Mr Miliband [then-Labour Party leader], the Police, my family, friends and colleagues". Personal life. Dale has been openly gay since he was 40. He entered into a civil  partnership with his long-term partner John Simmons on 15 June 2008 at Wadhurst Castle in East Sussex. This was converted to a marriage in 2015. They have been together since 1995 and live in Tunbridge Wells; before Dale met Simmons he lived in Walthamstow for six years from 1988. Bibliography. Iain Dale has edited, compiled or written forty books: