The Right Honourable The Lord Mandelson PC
Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office 11 May 2010 – 20 May 2010
Leader	Harriet Harman
Preceded by	Kenneth Clarke
Succeeded by	Pat McFadden
First Secretary of State
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	John Prescott
Succeeded by	William Hague
Lord President of the Council
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon
Succeeded by	Nick Clegg
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
In office 5 June 2009 – 11 May 2010
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	Himself (at BERR) John Denham (at IUS)
Succeeded by	Vince Cable
Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
In office 3 October 2008 – 5 June 2009
Prime Minister	Gordon Brown
Preceded by	John Hutton
Succeeded by	Himself (at BIS)
European Commissioner for Trade
In office 22 November 2004 – 3 October 2008
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Pascal Lamy
Succeeded by	Catherine Ashton
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
In office 11 October 1999 – 24 January 2001
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Mo Mowlam
Succeeded by	John Reid
Secretary of State for Trade and Industry
In office 27 July 1998 – 23 December 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Margaret Beckett (President of the Board of Trade)
Succeeded by	Stephen Byers
Minister without Portfolio
In office 2 May 1997 – 27 July 1998
Prime Minister	Tony Blair
Preceded by	Brian Mawhinney
Succeeded by	Charles Clarke
Member of Parliament for Hartlepool
In office 9 April 1992 – 23 July 2004
Preceded by	Ted Leadbitter
Succeeded by	Iain Wright
Majority	22,506 (59.1%)
Personal details
Born	(1953-10-21) 21 October 1953 (age 58)[citation needed] South London, United Kingdom
Political party	Labour
Domestic partner	Reinaldo Avila da Silva
Alma mater	St Catherine's College, Oxford

Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC (born 21 October 1953) is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner. He was a key architect in the rebranding of the Labour Party as "New Labour" and its subsequent landslide victory in the 1997 general election.^[1]

He twice resigned from Tony Blair's government while holding Cabinet positions. After his second resignation, he served as the European Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008. He rejoined the government when he was made a life peer by the Queen and took his seat in the House of Lords on 13 October 2008.^[2]

Early life[link]

Peter Mandelson was born in London in 1953, the son of Mary Joyce (née Morrison) and George Norman Mandelson.^[3] His father's family was Jewish, and his father was the advertising manager at The Jewish Chronicle. On his mother's side, he is the grandson of Margaret (Kent) and Herbert Morrison, the London County Council leader and Labour cabinet minister.^[4] He was educated at Hendon County Grammar School 1965–72.^[5] In 1966 he appeared on stage with the local amateur theatre group, the Hampstead Garden Suburb Dramatic Society as the eponymous lead in The Winslow Boy.

He read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Catherine's College, Oxford (1973–1976) and in the late 1970s, became Chair of the British Youth Council. As Chair of the BYC, he was a delegate in 1978 to the Soviet-organised World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana, Cuba, where with several future Labour cabinet colleagues, he with Hilary Barnard, future IUSY President, and Trevor Phillips successfully frustrated agreement on a distorted Soviet text on youth in the capitalist countries.^[6][7]

In his teenage years, he was also a member of the Young Communist League.^[8] but was a member of the Oxford University Labour Club delegation to the December 1975 NOLS Conference when the entryist Trotskyist Militant tendency lost control of NOLS. He was elected to Lambeth Borough Council in September 1979, but retired in 1982, disillusioned with the state of Labour politics.^[9]

Media and public relations career[link]

He worked as a television producer at London Weekend Television on Weekend World before Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock appointed him as Director of Communications in 1985, with a view to his overseeing Labour's campaign for the next general election, which was ultimately held in June 1987 and ended in a third successive win for Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government,^[10] although the Conservative majority was slightly reduced as Labour gained 20 seats.^[11]

Mandelson was able to secure close friendships within the Labour Party because of uncle Alexander Butler, who had worked alongside many important Labour politicians during the 1960s. In this role he was one of the first people in Britain to whom the term "spin doctor" was applied; he was thus called 'the Prince of Darkness'^[12][13] and, after his ennoblement, 'the Dark Lord', nicknames he apparently enjoys having.^[14]

In 1986, Mandelson ran the campaign at the Fulham by-election in which Labour defeated the Conservative Party.^[15] He then managed the Labour Party's 1987 general election campaign.

He is author (with Roger Liddle) of The Blair Revolution (1996). More recently, he contributed to the book The City in Europe and the World (2005).

Mandelson has been given the nickname "Mandy" in the popular media.^[16]

Political career[link]

He ceased being a Labour Party official in 1990 when he was selected as Labour candidate for the safe seat of Hartlepool. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1992 general election.^[17]

Shadow cabinet[link]

Mandelson made several speeches outlining his strong support for the European Union. He was close to two Shadow Cabinet members – Gordon Brown and Tony Blair – each regarded as potential future leaders, though he was sidelined during the brief period when John Smith led the party.

After Smith's sudden death in 1994, Mandelson chose to back Blair for the leadership, believing him to be a superior communicator to Brown^[18] and played a leading role in the leadership campaign. This created antagonism between Mandelson and Brown, though they were considered allies in the Labour Party.^[19]

He became a close ally and trusted adviser to Tony Blair. He was Labour's election campaign director for the 1997 general election, which Labour won by a landslide.^[20]

Government minister[link]

He was appointed as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, where his job was to co-ordinate within government. A few months later, he also acquired responsibility for the Millennium Dome, after Blair decided to go ahead with the project despite the opposition of most of the Cabinet (including the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport who had been running it). Jennie Page, the Dome Chief Executive, was abruptly sacked after a farcical opening night. She gave evidence to a House of Commons Select Committee for Culture and Heritage in June 2000. In what was seen as a reference to the close interest in the Dome from Mandelson, known at the time as so-called "Dome Secretary", and his successor Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Ms Page told the committee: "I made several attempts to persuade ministers that standing back from the Dome would be good for them as well as good for the Dome".^[21]

In July 1998, he joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He launched the Millennium Bug And Electronic Commerce Bill and a Competitiveness White Paper, which he described, as 'bold, far reaching and absolutely necessary'. He also appointed a 'Net czar' to lead the UK in what he termed the "new industrial revolution". In 1998 he was appointed a Privy Councillor.

First resignation[link]

Mandelson bought a home in Notting Hill in 1996 with the assistance of an interest-free loan of £373,000 from Geoffrey Robinson, a millionaire Labour MP who was also in the Government and subject to an inquiry into his business dealings by Mandelson's department.^[22] Mandelson contended that he had deliberately not taken part in any decisions relating to Robinson. However, he had not declared the loan in the Register of Members' Interests, and resigned on 23 December 1998.^[22] Mandelson had also not declared the loan to his building society (the Britannia) although they decided not to take any action, with the CEO stating "I am satisfied that the information given to us at the time of the mortgage application was accurate."^[23] Mandelson initially thought he could weather the press storm, but had to resign when it became clear that the Prime Minister thought nothing else would clear the air.^[24]

On 16 October 2000 it was reported that Robinson had "accused Peter Mandelson of lying to the Commons about the home loan affair that cost both of them their Government jobs."^[25][26]

He was out of the Cabinet for ten months. In October 1999, he was appointed Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, replacing Mo Mowlam. In his very first speech in the post he mistakenly referred to himself as the "Secretary of State for Ireland."^[27] During his tenure he oversaw the creation of the devolved legislative assembly and power-sharing executive, and reform of the police service.

Second resignation[link]

On 24 January 2001, Mandelson resigned from the Government for a second time following accusations of using his position to influence a passport application.^[28][29] He had contacted Home Office minister Mike O'Brien on behalf of Srichand Hinduja, an Indian businessman who was seeking British citizenship, and whose family firm was to become the main sponsor of the "Faith Zone" in the Millennium Dome. At the time, Hinduja and his brothers were under investigation by the Indian government for alleged involvement in the Bofors scandal. Mandelson insisted he had done nothing wrong and was exonerated by an independent inquiry by Sir Anthony Hammond which concluded that neither Mandelson nor anyone else had acted improperly. The front page headline in The Independent read in part "Passport to Oblivion".^[30]

At the 2001 general election, Mandelson was challenged by Arthur Scargill of the Socialist Labour Party and by John Booth, a former Labour Party press officer standing as "Genuine Labour",^[31] but Mandelson was re-elected with a large majority.^[32] This prompted him to make an exuberant acceptance speech, which was televised live, in which he declared that "I'm a fighter, not a quitter"^[1] and referred to his "inner steel".

Despite Labour success in the June 2001 general election, a third appointment to the Cabinet did not happen and he indicated his interest in becoming the United Kingdom's European Commissioner when the new Commission was established in 2004. Both of Britain's Commissioners, Neil Kinnock and Chris Patten, were due to stand down. Appointment as a Commissioner would require his resignation from Parliament and therefore a by-election in his Hartlepool constituency. His appointment was announced in the summer and on 8 September 2004 Mandelson resigned his seat through appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead.^[33][34] Labour won the subsequent Hartlepool by-election with a majority of more than 2,000.^[35]

During the Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009, the Daily Telegraph raised questions about the timing of Mandelson’s second home allowance claim, dating from 2004, saying, "Lord Mandelson billed the taxpayer for almost £3,000 of work on his constituency home in Hartlepool less than a week after announcing his decision to stand down as an MP." Mandelson said in a statement, "The work done was necessary maintenance. All claims made were reasonable and submitted consistent with Parliamentary rules."^[36]

European commissioner[link]

On 22 November 2004, Mandelson became Britain's European Commissioner, taking the trade portfolio.

On 22 April 2005, The Times revealed that Mandelson had spent the previous New Year's Eve on the yacht of Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, which was at the centre of a major EU investigation, although it did not allege impropriety.^[37]

During the summer of 2008, Mandelson had a widely publicised disagreement with Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France.^[1] Sarkozy accused him of trying to sell out European farmers and appeared to blame his handling of the Doha round of trade talks for the "no" vote in the Irish referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon. Mandelson said his position at world trade talks had been undermined and told the BBC he did not start the row, saying, "I stood up for myself, I'm not to be bullied." He said he believed the row was over but renewed his warnings on protectionism.^[1]

In 2008, melamine added to milk in China caused kidney stones and other ailments in thousands of Chinese children, and killed at least six. To show his confidence in Chinese dairy products, Mandelson drank a glass of Chinese yoghurt in front of reporters. The following week, he was hospitalised for a kidney stone; the events were probably unconnected.^[38][39]

In October 2008, Mandelson was reported to have maintained private contacts over several years with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, most recently on holiday in August 2008 on Deripaska's yacht at Taverna Agni on the Greek island of Corfu.^[40] News of the contacts sparked criticism because, as European Union trade commissioner, Mandelson had been responsible for two decisions to cut aluminium tariffs that had benefited Deripaska's United Company RusAl.^[41] Mandelson denied that there had been a conflict of interest and insisted that he had never discussed aluminium tariffs with Deripaska.^[42] On 26 October 2008, the Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague claimed the "whole country" wanted "transparency" about Mandelson's previous meetings with Deripaska. In response, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Mandelson's dealings with Deripaska had been "found to be above board".^[43] Mandelson said that meeting business figures from "across the range" in emerging economies was part of his brief as EU trade commissioner.^[44] On 29 October 2008, while Mandelson was on a ministerial visit to Moscow,^[45] it was alleged in the British press that, head of security at Deripaska's company Basic Element Valery Pechenkin had organised a swift entry visa for Mandelson when he turned up in Moscow to visit Deripaska in 2005.^[46]

In October 2008 he left his post as Trade Commissioner to return to UK politics. As a former EU commissioner, Mandelson is entitled to a £31,000 pension when he reaches the age of 65 years. While this is contingent on a "duty of loyalty to the Communities" which applies also after his term in office, Mandelson's spokesperson denied there is a conflict of interest.^[47]

Return to cabinet[link]

On 3 October 2008, as part of Gordon Brown's cabinet reshuffle, it was announced amid some controversy^[48][49] that Mandelson would return to government in the re-drawn post of Business Secretary, and would be made a life peer, entitling him to a seat in the House of Lords.^[50][51] On 13 October 2008 he was created Baron Mandelson, of Foy in the County of Herefordshire and of Hartlepool in the County of Durham,^[52] and was introduced in the House of Lords the same day.^[53]

Since returning to office, Lord Mandelson has supported the planned Heathrow Airport expansion.^[54] On 6 March 2009, the environmental protester Leila Deen of anti-aviation group Plane Stupid approached him outside a summit on the government's Low Carbon Industrial Strategy and threw a cup of green custard in his face, in protest over his support for a third runway at Heathrow Airport. The protester was cautioned on 9 April for causing "harassment, alarm or distress".^[55][56]

In a cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, Mandelson was appointed to the honorific office of First Secretary of State, and to the position of Lord President of the Council.^[57] It was also announced that the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills would be merged into his, giving him the new title of Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, and that he would continue as President of the Board of Trade.^[57][58]

Mandelson was a member of 35 of the 43 Cabinet committees and subcommittees.^[59] An opinion poll conducted by the centre-left think tank Compass found that Mandelson was proving to be more popular with rank and file party members than Deputy Party Leader Harriet Harman. This was claimed to be surprising due to Mandelson's previously strained relationship with grassroots members, set against Harman's record of success winning grassroots votes in her election as Deputy. It was also seen to be prophetic, and to tie-in with Tony Blair's quote that his "mission would be completed when the Labour Party learned to love Mandelson".^[60]

Post-cabinet[link]

After the Labour Party failed to secure a majority in the 2010 general election and subsequent resignation of the Labour government, Mandelson published his memoirs "The Third Man: Life at the Heart of New Labour" in July 2010,^[61] a little over two months after leaving office. The memoirs were subsequently criticised by Labour leadership contenders Ed and David Miliband and Andy Burnham.^[62]

In November 2010, Lord Mandelson became chairman of Global Counsel LLP, a consultancy firm, with the financial support of WPP, the advertising giant.^[63] On 21 January 2011, it was announced by that Lord Mandelson would serve as a Senior Adviser to the advisory investment banking firm, Lazard Ltd.^[64]

In May 2011, it was revealed that there was speculation that Mandelson had been approached by China to be a candidate for the leadership of the International Monetary Fund, even though Mandelson cannot stand since he has not been a finance minister or led a central government bank. However, it was then speculated that Mandelson would stand to succeed Pascal Lamy as Director General of the World Trade Organization, and has the backing of David Cameron.

In May 2012 Lord Mandelson confirmed advising Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) in selling timber products to Europe. In 2012 APP has been accused of illegal logging in Indonesia and damaging the habitats of rare animals such as the Sumatran tiger. At least 67 companies worldwide, such as Tesco and Kraft Foods since 2004 and Danone since 2012 have boycotted APP.^[65][66][67]

Personal life[link]

In October 1998, during his first period in the Cabinet, Mandelson was the centre of media attention when Matthew Parris (openly gay former MP and then Parliamentary sketch writer of The Times) mentioned during a live interview on Newsnight, in the wake of the resignation of Ron Davies, that "Peter Mandelson is certainly gay".^[68]

In 2000, Mandelson publicly recognised his relationship with long-time partner Reinaldo Avila da Silva by allowing photographs of them together.^[69] Da Silva is Brazilian born but was naturalized as a British citizen around the end of August 2005.^[70]

Tam Dalyell, while Father of the House of Commons, claimed Mandelson formed part of Blair's 'Jewish cabal' in May 2003. In response Mandelson said: "Apart from the fact that I am not actually Jewish, I wear my father's parentage with pride."^[71]

Mandelson was, until 8 October 2008, the president of Central School of Speech and Drama.^[72] He was replaced in this unremunerated post by playwright Harold Pinter, who died some weeks later.

In 1999, 2009 and 2011 Mandelson was an invited guest of the Bilderberg Group and attended the annual conferences.^[73][74]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Jones, Nicholas (2000): Sultans of Spin: The Media and the New Labour Government Orion Books, ISBN 0-7528-2769-3
• Macintyre, Donald (1999): Mandelson: The Biography Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-255943-9
• Mandelson, Peter (2002): The Blair Revolution Revisited Politico's, ISBN 1-84275-039-9
• Rawnsley, Andrew (2001): Servants of the People: The Inside Story of New Labour Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-027850-8
• Routledge, Paul (1999): Mandy: The Unauthorised Biography of Peter Mandelson Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-684-85175-X
• Seldon, Anthony (2005): Blair The Free Press, ISBN 0-7432-3212-7

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Mandelson

• Profile at Parliament of the United Kingdom
• Contributions in Parliament at Hansard 1803–2005
• Current session contributions in Parliament at Hansard
• Electoral history and profile at The Guardian
• Voting record at PublicWhip.org
• Record in Parliament at TheyWorkForYou.com
• Profile at Westminster Parliamentary Record
• Profile at BBC News Democracy Live
• Articles authored at Journalisted
• Profile: Peter Mandelson BBC News, 3 October 2008, 13 August 2004
• Peter Mandelson: Interview in full, PublicAffairsAsia.com, 18 August 2008, on sovereign wealth funds
• Peter Mandelson: Interview on New Statesman, 1 October 2008.
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Peter Mandelson on Charlie Rose
• Peter Mandelson at the Internet Movie Database
• Works by or about Peter Mandelson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Peter Mandelson collected news and commentary at The Guardian
• Peter Mandelson collected news and commentary at The New York Times

v t e Brown Cabinet Cabinet Members Lord Adonis • Bob Ainsworth • Douglas Alexander • Baroness Ashton • Ed Balls • Hilary Benn • Hazel Blears • Ben Bradshaw • Gordon Brown • Des Browne • Liam Byrne • Andy Burnham • Yvette Cooper • Alistair Darling • John Denham • Peter Hain • Harriet Harman • Geoff Hoon • John Hutton • Alan Johnson • Tessa Jowell • Ruth Kelly • Lord Mandelson • David Miliband • Ed Miliband • Jim Murphy • Paul Murphy • James Purnell • Baroness Royall • Jacqui Smith • Jack Straw • Shaun Woodward Also Attended Meetings Margaret Beckett • Nick Brown • Lord Drayson • Caroline Flint • Lord Grocott • John Healey • Jim Knight • Lord Malloch-Brown • Pat McFadden • Tony McNulty • Baroness Scotland Attended While on Agenda Beverley Hughes • Sadiq Khan • Dawn Primarolo • Rosie Winterton

v t e Deputy Prime Ministers and First Secretaries of State of the United Kingdom Deputy Prime Minister Clement Attlee · Herbert Morrison · Anthony Eden · Rab Butler* · Lord Whitelaw · Geoffrey Howe · Michael Heseltine* · John Prescott* · Nick Clegg First Secretary of State Rab Butler* · George Brown · Michael Stewart · Barbara Castle · Michael Heseltine* · John Prescott* · The Lord Mandelson · William Hague * Held offices simultaneously

v t e Presidents of the Board of Trade of the United Kingdom Shaftesbury Bridgewater Stamford Weymouth Stamford Winchilsea Guilford Berkeley Suffolk Holderness Fitzwalter Monson Halifax Sandys Townshend Shelburne Hillsborough Dartmouth Hillsborough Nugent Hillsborough Dartmouth Sackville Carlisle Grantham Sydney Liverpool Montrose Auckland Bathurst Clancarty Robinson Huskisson Grant Vesey-Fitzgerald Herries Auckland Thomson Baring Thomson Labouchere Ripon Gladstone Dalhousie Clarendon Labouchere Henley Cardwell Stanley Henley Dnoughmore Gibson Northcote Richmond Bright Parkinson-Fortescue Adderley Sandon Chamberlain Richmond Stanhope Mundella Stanley Hicks Beach Mundella Bryce Ritchie Balfour Salisbury Lloyd George Churchill Buxton Burns Runciman Stanley Geddes Horne Baldwin Cunliffe-Lister Graham Cunliffe-Lister Runciman Stanley Duncan Lyttelton Duncan Llewellin Dalton Lyttelton Cripps Wilson Shawcross Thorneycroft Eccles Maulding Erroll Heath Jay Crosland Mason Noble Davies Walker Benn Varley Joseph Jenkin Shore Dell Smith Nott Biffen Cockfield Parkinson Tebbit Brittan Channon Young Ridley Lilley Heseltine Lang Beckett Mandelson Byers Hewitt Johnson Darling Hutton Mandelson Cable

v t e Barroso Commission I (2004–2009) Joaquín Almunia · Catherine Ashton6 · José Manuel Barroso1 · Jacques Barrot2 · Joe Borg · Karel De Gucht9 · Stavros Dimas · Benita Ferrero-Waldner · Ján Figeľ10 · Franco Frattini2, 5 · Mariann Fischer Boel · Dalia Grybauskaitė7 · Danuta Hübner8 · Siim Kallas2 · László Kovács · Neelie Kroes · Meglena Kuneva3 · Markos Kyprianou4 · Peter Mandelson6 · Charlie McCreevy · Louis Michel9 · Leonard Orban3 · Andris Piebalgs · Janez Potočnik · Viviane Reding · Olli Rehn · Paweł Samecki8 · Maroš Šefčovič10 · Algirdas Šemeta7 · Vladimír Špidla · Antonio Tajani2, 5 · Androulla Vassiliou4 · Günter Verheugen2 · Margot Wallström2 1 = President. 2 = Vice President. 3 = Served from 1 January 2007. 4 = Vassiliou replaced Kyprianou on 3 March 2008. 5 = Tajani replaced Frattini on 18 June 2008. 6 = Ashton replaced Mandelson on 3 October 2008. 7 = Šemeta replaced Grybauskaitė on 1 July 2009. 8 = Samecki replaced Hübner on 4 July 2009. 9 = De Gucht replaced Michel on 17 July 2009. 10 = Šefčovič replaced Figeľ on 1 October 2009.

v t e Secretaries of State for Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Office 1972-1974 Whitelaw · Pym 1974-1979 Rees · Mason 1979-1997 Atkins · Prior · Hurd · King · Brooke · Mayhew 1997-2010 Mowlam · Mandelson · Reid · Murphy · Hain* · Woodward 2010-present Paterson *Also Secretary of State for Wales

v t e European Commissioners from the United Kingdom Catherine Ashton | Peter Mandelson | Chris Patten | Neil Kinnock | Bruce Millan | Leon Brittan | Arthur Cockfield | Stanley Clinton Davis | Ivor Richard | Christopher Tugendhat | Roy Jenkins | George Thomson | Christopher Soames

v t e European Commissioners for Trade Rey • Deniau • Dahrendorf • Soames • Haferkamp • De Clercq • Andriessen • Brittan • Lamy • Hübner • Mandelson • Ashton • Ferrero-Waldner • De Gucht

Andrew Marr
At the 2009 BAFTA awards
Born	Andrew William Stevenson Marr (1959-07-31) 31 July 1959 (age 52) Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Nationality	British
Education	Trinity Hall, Cambridge
Occupation	Journalist, presenter, political commentator
Notable credit(s)	BBC News The Andrew Marr Show
Salary	£580,000[1]
Spouse	Jackie Ashley (m. 1987-present)
Children	Son and 2 daughters

Andrew William Stevenson Marr (born 31 July 1959) is a British journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005. He began hosting a political programme Sunday AM, now called The Andrew Marr Show, on Sunday mornings on BBC One from September 2005. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week.

In 2007 he presented a political history of post-war Britain on BBC Two, Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain, followed by a prequel in 2009 - Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain focusing on the period between 1901 and 1945. In 2010 he presented a series, Andrew Marr's Megacities, examining the life, development and challenges of some of the largest cities in the world. In early 2012 he presented The Diamond Queen, a 3 part series about the 60-year reign of Queen Elizabeth II.^[2]

Early life[link]

Marr was born on 31 July 1959 in Glasgow, Scotland^[3] to Donald and Valerie Marr. His father was an investment trust manager and Marr was educated in Scotland at the independent High School of Dundee, Craigflower School and at Loretto, also an independent school in Musselburgh, East Lothian, where he was a member of Pinkie House. He went on to study English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge gaining first class honours.^[3][4]

He was once a member of the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory. At Cambridge, Marr says he was a "raving leftie", and he acquired the nickname 'Red Andy'.^[5][6]

Newspaper career[link]

Marr joined The Scotsman as a trainee and junior business reporter in 1981. He became a parliamentary correspondent for the newspaper in 1984, moving to London at this time, and then a political correspondent in 1986. During this period, Marr met the political journalist Anthony Bevins, who became Marr's mentor and close friend. Bevins was responsible for Marr's first appointment at The Independent as a member of the newspaper's launch staff.

Marr left shortly afterwards, and joined The Economist, where he contributed the weekly "Bagehot" political column and ultimately became the magazine's political editor in 1988. Marr has remarked that his time at The Economist "changed me quite a lot" and "made me question a lot of my assumptions".^[7] He admits that while working at The Economist he earned himself the jocular nickname ‘Tearound Tessa’ because of his enthusiasm for trips to the canteen on behalf of his colleagues.^[8]

Marr returned to The Independent as the newspaper's political editor in 1992, and became its editor in 1996. His period as editor coincided with a particularly turbulent time at the paper. Faced with price cutting by the Murdoch-owned Times, sales had begun to decline, and Marr made two attempts to arrest the slide. He made use of bold 'poster-style' front pages, and then in 1996 radically re-designed the paper along a mainland European model, with Gill Sans headline fonts, and stories being themed and grouped together, rather than according to strict news value. This tinkering ultimately proved disastrous. The limited advertising budget meant the paper's re-launch struggled to get noticed, and when it did, it was mocked for reinterpreting its original marketing slogan 'It Is - Are You' to read 'It's changed - have you?'. The response from some was that many existing readers had indeed changed - to The Guardian. At the beginning of 1998 Marr was sacked. According to one version of events he was sacked after refusing to implement a further round of redundancies. The author and journalist Nick Cohen writes that Tony Blair's director of communications, Alastair Campbell demanded that David Montgomery, The Independent's publisher, sack Marr over an article which compared Blair with his predecessor John Major. Blair, in the offending article, had written "On the day we remember the legend that St George slayed a dragon to protect England, some will argue that there is another dragon to be slayed: Europe." Marr's offence was to suggest Blair was speaking in bad faith, and that the phrase "some will argue" was a weasel phrase to create distance from an otherwise xenophobic article.^[9]

Three months later he returned to the Independent. Tony O'Reilly had increased his stake in the paper and bought out owners Mirror Group. O'Reilly, who had a high regard for Marr, asked him to collaborate as co-editor with Rosie Boycott, in an arrangement whereby Marr would edit the comment pages, and Boycott would have overall control of the news pages.

Many pundits predicted the arrangement would not last, and two months later Boycott left to replace Richard Addis as editor of the Daily Express. Marr was sole editor again, but only for one week. Simon Kelner, who had worked on the paper when it was first launched accepted the editorship, and asked Marr to stay on as a political columnist. Kelner was not Marr's "cup of tea" Marr observed later, and he left the paper for the final time in May 1998.^[10]

At the BBC[link]

Marr wrote as a columnist for The Daily Express and The Observer before being appointed BBC Political Editor in May 2000. Like his predecessor-but-one John Cole and his famous herringbone overcoat, he soon developed a trademark style, characterised by much gesticulation, as sent up in the comedy impersonation programme Dead Ringers where the impressionists use ridiculously long plastic arms when portraying him. He also became known and widely praised for his ability to describe the background to Westminster gossip and intrigue and explain to viewers and listeners how it would affect their lives. A great believer in the view that "politics matters", Marr championed the democratic process and saw it as part of his role as Political Editor of the BBC to help make politics meaningful and relevant for many people who tended to see politics as the preserve of a remote, largely male and middle aged Westminster clique.

Among his personal scoops as Political Editor were the second resignation of Peter Mandelson, and the interview in late 2004 in which Tony Blair told him that he would not seek a fourth term as Prime Minister should he win the forthcoming general election. Marr was criticised for some of his on air statements during this period. John Pilger claimed that Marr "rejoiced at the vindication of Blair who, he said, had promised 'to take Baghdad without a bloodbath'" during the second Iraq war in March 2003. Pilger has attacked Marr further over an interview with Tony Blair, in which Blair was promoting his memoirs. Pilger is critical towards Marr for not questioning Blair on whether he had colluded with George Bush to invade Iraq and for not bringing up the legality of the invasion.^[11]

During his time as political editor Marr assumed various presentational roles, and announced in 2005 that following the 2005 General Election, he would step down as Political Editor to spend more time with his family. He was replaced as Political Editor by Nick Robinson. In September 2005, he moved to a new role presenting the BBC's Sunday morning flagship news programme Sunday AM, known as The Andrew Marr Show since September 2007;^[12] the slot was previously filled with Breakfast with Frost and hosted by Sir David Frost. Marr also hosts the BBC Radio 4 programme Start the Week.

In May and June 2007, the BBC broadcast Andrew Marr's History of Modern Britain. He presented the five one-hour documentaries, and chronicled the history of Britain from 1945 to 2007. Unsold copies of the book of the series, a best seller, were recalled in March 2009 by publishers Macmillan when legal action was taken over false claims that domestic violence campaigner Erin Pizzey had been a member of The Angry Brigade terrorist group.^[13][14] According to her own account, in a Guardian interview in 2001, Pizzey had been present at a meeting when they discussed their intention of bombing Biba, a fashion store, and threatened to report their activities to the police.^[15][16] Damages were paid to Pizzey and Marr's book was republished with the error removed.^[17][18]

Marr has written several books on politics and journalism, notably state-of-the-nation reflection The Day Britain Died (2000) and My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism (2004). The former was a three-part television series shown after Newsnight on BBC Two from 31 January to 2 February 2000. He has also written several articles for the British political magazine Prospect.

In 2008, he presented the prime time BBC One series Britain From Above. The following year, he contributed a three-part series called Darwin's Dangerous Idea to the BBC Darwin Season, celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his theory of evolution. He played a small role as himself in a Doctor Who episode, "World War Three"; reporting Slitheen entering 10 Downing Street, he was noted as himself in the credits. In late 2009, BBC Two broadcast his six-part television series on British politics in the first half of the 20th century Andrew Marr's The Making of Modern Britain.^[19]

In September 2009 on the Sunday before the Labour Party conference in Brighton, Marr interviewed Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Towards the end of the interview, Marr told Brown he wanted to ask about:^[20]

The Prime Minister responded: "No. I think this is the sort of questioning which is all too often entering the lexicon of British politics." Marr was later heavily criticised by Labour politicians,^[21] the media and fellow political journalists for what was described as a vague question which relied on its source being a singular entry on a political blog.^[22] In later interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 News, John Ward, the author of the Not Born Yesterday blog, admitted that he has no proof to back up the claim.^[23]

Politics[link]

Wikinews has related news: Andrew Marr angers bloggers, describing them as 'inadequate, pimpled and single'

Marr has written about the need to remain impartial and "studiously neutral" whilst delivering news reports and "convey fact, and nothing more".^[24] Marr responded to criticism as "pernicious anti-journalism".^[25]

In the Daily Telegraph he claimed to be a libertarian when discussing his conflicting views on smoking bans.^[26] However, writing in The Guardian, he said "And the final answer, frankly, is the vigorous use of state power to coerce and repress. It may be my Presbyterian background, but I firmly believe that repression can be a great, civilising instrument for good. Stamp hard on certain 'natural' beliefs for long enough and you can almost kill them off. The police are first in line to be burdened further, but a new Race Relations Act will impose the will of the state on millions of other lives too."^[27]

At an October 2006 BBC seminar discussing impartiality, Marr highlighted alleged bias within the BBC. He stated: "The BBC is not impartial or neutral. It's a publicly funded, urban organisation with an abnormally large number of young people, ethnic minorities, and gay people. It has a liberal bias, not so much a party-political bias. It is better expressed as a cultural liberal bias."^[28][29]

Marr spoke at the Cheltenham Literary Festival on 10 October 2010 about political blogging. He claimed that "[a] lot of bloggers seem to be socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother's basements and ranting. They are very angry people."^[30]

Other work[link]

Marr has helped support the Sense-National Deafblind and Rubella Association, and was the face of a Sense direct marketing appeal. He has also been involved with the charity Common Purpose UK.^{[citation needed]} Marr is President of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Marr lives in East Sheen, London, with his wife, the political journalist Jackie Ashley of The Guardian, whom he married in August 1987 in Surrey.^[4] She is a daughter of the Labour life peer Lord Ashley of Stoke. The couple have a son and two daughters.^[31]

Privacy injunction[link]

On 28 June 2008, Richard Ingrams reported in The Independent that Marr had obtained a High Court injunction preventing disclosure in the media of "private" information. The order was anonymised, preventing press reporting. The injunction was not mentioned in the UK media until Private Eye commented on it.^[32]

On 26 April 2011, following legal action by Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, an interview with Marr was published in the Daily Mail, in which he revealed that the super-injunction had covered the reporting of an extra-marital affair with a female journalist.^[33] Marr said that he had believed that a child of the journalist was his, but had learned through a DNA test that it was not. He commented: "I did not come into journalism to go around gagging journalists. Am I embarrassed by it? Yes. Am I uneasy about it? Yes. But at the time there was a crisis in my marriage and I believed there was a young child involved. I also had my own family to think about, and I believed this story was nobody else's business."^[34] Hislop had filed a court challenge earlier in April 2011, and described the super-injunction as "pretty rank".^[35]

Awards[link]

In 1995 he was named Columnist of the Year at both the What the Papers Say Awards and the British Press Awards, and received the Journalist Award in the Channel 4 Political Awards of 2001.^[36]

He was considered for honorary membership of The Coterie for 2007.^[37] Marr has received two British Academy Television Awards: the Richard Dimbleby Award at the 2004 ceremony^[38] and the award for Best Specialist Factual Programme (for his History of Modern Britain) at the 2008 ceremony.^[39]

Marr and his wife were both awarded honorary doctorates from Staffordshire University in July 2009.^[40]

References[link]