Roderick E. L. Liddle (born 1960) is an English print, radio, and television journalist. An associate editor of ''The Spectator'', and former editor of BBC Radio 4's ''Today'' programme, he is the author of ''Too Beautiful for You'' (2003), ''Love Will Destroy Everything'' (2007), and co-author of ''The Best of Liddle Britain'' (2007). He has presented several television programmes, including ''The New Fundamentalists'', ''The Trouble with Atheism'', and ''Immigration Is A Time Bomb''.

Liddle started his career at the ''South Wales Echo'', and later joined the BBC. He become editor of ''Today'' in 1998, resigning in 2002. He has written for ''The Guardian'', ''The Sunday Times'', and several other publications.

His acrimonious divorce in 2004 with his ex-wife, Rachel Royce, was widely covered in the media. Some of his comments have caused controversy in the media. He was accused of racism for making remarks about the African-Caribbean community and for the content of his posts to an online forum.

Early life and education

Liddle was born in Abbey Wood, south London, the son of a train driver. From the age of eight, he was brought up in Nunthorpe, a suburb of Middlesbrough, and educated at Laurence Jackson comprehensive school in nearby Guisborough, where he formed a punk band called "Dangerbird". He attended the London School of Economics (LSE) as a mature student, where he read social psychology.

Career

His early career in journalism was with the ''South Wales Echo'' in Cardiff where he was a general news reporter and, for a time, the rock and pop writer. He was a member of the Socialist Workers Party in his early youth, but worked between 1983 and 1987 as a speechwriter and researcher for the Labour Party.

BBC

He returned to journalism after graduating from the LSE, and was taken on as a trainee producer by the BBC. Liddle was appointed editor of the ''Today'' programme in 1998. The programme had an unrivalled reputation for its political interviews, but Liddle tried, with considerable success, to improve the programme's investigative journalism. To this end he hired journalists from outside the BBC. Among the most controversial was Andrew Gilligan, who joined from ''The Sunday Telegraph'' in 1999. Gilligan's 29 May 2003 report on ''Today''—that the British government had "sexed up" the intelligence dossier on Iraq, a report broadcast after Liddle had left the programme—began a chain of events that included the death in July that year of David Kelly, the weapons inspector who was Gilligan's source, and the subsequent Hutton Inquiry, a public inquiry into the circumstances of Kelly's death. Liddle defended Gilligan throughout the controversy.

Under Liddle's editorship, ''Today'' won a number of awards: a Sony Silver in 2002 for reports by Barnie Choudhury and Mike Thomson into the causes of race riots in the north of England; a Sony Bronze in 2003 for an investigation by Angus Stickler into paedophile priests; and an Amnesty International Media Award in 2003 for Gilligan's investigation into the sale of illegal landmines, an investigation that attracted a lengthy legal action.

While working for ''Today'', Liddle also wrote a column for ''The Guardian''. On 25 September 2002, referring to a march organized by the Countryside Alliance in defence of fox hunting, Liddle wrote that readers may have forgotten why they voted Labour in 1997, but would remember once they saw the people campaigning to save hunting. His column led ''The Daily Telegraph'' to accuse Liddle of bias and of endangering democracy. The BBC concluded that Liddle's comments breached his commitment to impartiality as a BBC editor, and gave him an ultimatum to stop writing his column or resign from his position on ''Today''. He resigned on 30 September 2002. He said later that when he was editor he was ordered by BBC management to sack Frederick Forsyth from the show, and speculated that it was because of Forsyth's rightwing political views. The BBC replied that the decision was made for editorial reasons.

''The Spectator''

With Kate Silverton he presented the short-lived BBC2 political show ''Weekend''—described by ''The Independent on Sunday'' as "The worst programme anywhere, ever, in the history of time"—and BBC4's ''The Talk Show''. He continued to write for ''The Guardian'', and became a team captain on ''Call My Bluff''. He became an associate editor with ''The Spectator''. He also writes for the men's magazines, ''GQ'' and ''Arena'', and a weekly column for ''The Sunday Times''.

Controversy

In November 2009, on ''The Spectator'' website, he offered "a quick update on what the Muslim savages are up to," a brief article about the stoning to death of a 20-year-old woman in Somalia after she was accused of adultery, and the similar death of a 13-year-old the year before. He made remarks, considered sarcastic, that read: "Incidentally, many Somalis have come to Britain as immigrants recently, where they are widely admired for their strong work ethic, respect for the law and keen, piercing, intelligence."

In December 2009, on his ''Spectator'' blog, Liddle referred to two black music producers, Brandon Jolie and Kingsley Ogundele, who had plotted to kill Jolie's 15-year-old pregnant girlfriend, as "human filth" and said the incident was not an anomaly. He continued:

The overwhelming majority of street crime, knife crime, gun crime, robbery and crimes of sexual violence in London is carried out by young men from the African-Caribbean community. Of course, in return, we have rap music, goat curry and a far more vibrant and diverse understanding of cultures which were once alien to us. For which, many thanks.

When he was accused of racism, Liddle said he was instead engaging in a debate about multiculturalism. In March 2010 the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) upheld a complaint against Liddle, who became the first journalist to be censured over the contents of a blog, because he had not been able to prove his claim about the crime statistics. After the publication of London crime figures in June 2010, ''The Sunday Telegraph'' suggested Liddle was largely right on some of his claims, but that he was probably wrong on his claims about knife crimes and violent sex crimes.

In January 2010, the ''Mail on Sunday'' and ''The Observer'' drew attention to allegedly racist and misogynist comments posted under the username "monkeymfc"—a name Liddle has used—on Millwall Online, a fan club web forum with no official connection to the Millwall Football Club. Liddle at first attributed some of the comments to opposition fans logging in under his name to embarrass him. He later admitted he had written some of the posts that were being criticized, including one in support of the BNP excluding Black and Asian people from the party. Another post, in which he joked about not being able to smoke at Auschwitz, led to his being forced to explain what he meant in ''The Jewish Chronicle''.

''The Guardian'' reported on 8 January 2010 that the expected purchase of ''The Independent'' by Alexander Lebedev, a Russian billionaire, would be followed by the appointment of Liddle as editor. Roy Greenslade wrote on 11 January that the reports were provoking a "major internal and external revolt" by ''The Independent'''s staff and readers. The stories about Liddle's posts on Millwall Online apparently further reduced the likelihood of him being offered the job. Finally, on 19 February, Stephen Brook of ''The Guardian'' reported that Liddle was no longer in the running for the post.

Political views

Liddle is a member of the Labour Party. His political views are sometimes questioned by those on both left and right. He stated his beliefs on his ''Spectator'' blog:

I’m not sure why it puzzles people, although I assume it’s something to do with what the Labour Party has become. I am pretty much of the left, but loathe the censoriousness, arrogance, self-righteousness and political correctness of the left, or London faux-left, as I would describe it. I sign up to most of the stuff which used to be considered left – decent minimum wage, redistributive tax policy, social ownership of those things which as a society we need but which the market struggles to provide (trains, utilities, council housing and the like).

My worries about immigration, meanwhile, are twofold; that as a country we have become too crowded, and that the free movement of labour has made it harder for indigenous working class people to earn a decent wage, rent a decent house, get their kids educated in schools where the other kids speak the same language and so on and so on. My dislike of multiculturalism stems not simply from the belief that competing cultures undermine a sense of national identity and shared aspiration, but that some of the cultures we have encouraged, or made allowances for, are profoundly illiberal and penalize the most vulnerable sectors of society. And when that happens – either with the more rigorous strictures of Islam, or the low educational achievement and predilection towards crime of young African Caribbean men (© Diane Abbott), we should say so, and say so forcefully.

I suppose on these latter points it has largely been the right-wing doing most of the running – but I do not see why it is right wing per se to object to the authoritarianism of Islam, or a culture which leads black kids towards crime. Quite the reverse, I would have thought. But there we are. I hope this has helped.

He said in 2009: "I got a reputation three or four years ago for being very right wing. This was always bollocks, I've never been right wing", and that "The truth is I'm a fundamentalist liberal, I'm probably worse than all those other people." He is a critic of Islam, and sees the religion as oppressive. However, he says it is the Christians who are more offended by his views: "When I write things about Islam I get letters and emails from Muslims, which with great politeness and erudition explain why they think I'm wrong and wish me the best. When I write about evangelical Christianity I get death threats, I get told that I'm going to burn in hell for all eternity and so are all my children."

Personal life

Liddle married his longtime partner, Rachel Royce, a television presenter, in January 2004 in Malaysia. They had been living in Heytesbury, Wiltshire, and had two sons together, Tyler and Wilder. Six months later, Liddle moved in with Alicia Monckton, a 22-year-old receptionist at ''The Spectator''. It transpired that he had cut his honeymoon with Royce short so that he could be with Monckton. Following their divorce, Liddle and Royce exchanged attacks in the media. Liddle called her a "total slut and slattern", and Royce wrote an article in the ''Daily Mail'' titled "My cheating husband Rod, 10 bags of manure and me the bunny boiler. As for The Slapper... she's welcome to him". As of 2011 Royce was still writing about her ex-husband in the ''Mail''. On 5 May 2005, he was arrested for common assault against Monckton, who was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. He admitted the offence and accepted a police caution, but said later that he only did so because it was the quickest way for him to be released, and that he had not assaulted her. The couple's daughter, Emmeline, named after the suffragette, Emmeline Pankhurst, was born in October 2005. The couple married in September 2008.

Liddle has supported Millwall Football Club since the age of seven. He frequently attends home and away games. He has written several articles lamenting the demise of football as the people's game.

Television

''The New Fundamentalists''

In ''The New Fundamentalists'', a programme in the ''Dispatches'' strand broadcast in March 2006, Liddle, a member of the Church of England, condemned the rise of evangelicalism and Christian fundamentalism in Britain, especially the anti-Darwinian influence of such beliefs in faith schools; and criticised the social teaching and cultural influence of this strand of Christianity. The documentary was criticised by David Hilborn of the Evangelical Alliance, and by Rupert Kaye of the Association of Christian Teachers.

''The Trouble with Atheism''

In ''The Trouble with Atheism'', Liddle argued that atheists can be as dogmatic and intolerant as the adherents of religion. Liddle said, "History has shown us that it's not religion that's the problem, but any system of thought that insists that one group of people are inviolably in the right, whereas the others are in the wrong and must somehow be punished." Liddle argues, for example, that eugenic policies are the logical consequence of dogmatic adherence to Darwinism.

''Immigration Is A Time Bomb''

Liddle's ''Immigration Is A Time Bomb'' was broadcast by Channel 4 in 2005. The complaints that followed it included that he should not have allowed British National Party leader Nick Griffin to speak unchallenged. Ofcom adjudicated that the programme was fair, and the complaints were dismissed. Liddle subsequently argued, after Griffin was acquitted in February 2006 of two charges of inciting racial hatred, that the charges were "too ephemeral, too dependent upon the mindset and political disposition of the juror, and upon what is happening outside of the courtroom, on the streets."

Other work

In April 2007, Liddle presented a two-hour long theological documentary called ''The Bible Revolution'' where he looked back in history to William Tyndale's translation of the Bible in English and the effect this had upon the English language. On 21 May 2007, he presented an hour long documentary, ''Battle for the Holy Land: Love Thy Neighbour'', about the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. He visited Bethlehem, Hebron and the Israeli settlement of Tekoa. Liddle sought to examine whether Israel was a true liberal democracy in light of its treatment of the Palestinians. He also appeared in Channel 4's alternative election night episode of ''Come Dine With Me'' along with Edwina Curry, Derek Hatton and Brian Paddick.

Writing

In 2003 Liddle wrote a collection of short stories, ''Too Beautiful For You''. He said he has always wanted to be a writer, and saw journalism as a cop-out. He is also the author of ''Love Will Destroy Everything'' (2007) and the co-author of ''The Best of Liddle Britain'' (2007).

Notes

External links

Articles written by Rod Liddle at ''The Spectator''

Category:1960 births Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Anglo-Scots Category:BBC newsreaders and journalists Category:English Anglicans Category:English columnists Category:English journalists Category:Living people Category:Socialist Workers Party (UK) members Category:The Sunday Times people

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Honorific-prefix	The Right Honourable
Name	Jack Straw
Honorific-suffix	MP
Office	Shadow Deputy Prime Minister
Leader	Harriet Harman
Term start	11 May 2010
Term end	7 October 2010
Successor	Position abolished
Office1	Shadow Secretary of State for JusticeShadow Lord Chancellor
Leader1	Harriet HarmanEd Miliband
Term start1	11 May 2010
Term end1	7 October 2010
Predecessor1	Dominic Grieve
Successor1	Sadiq Khan
Office2	Secretary of State for JusticeLord Chancellor
Primeminister2	Gordon Brown
Term start2	28 June 2007
Term end2	11 May 2010
Predecessor2	The Lord Falconer of Thoroton
Successor2	Kenneth Clarke
Office3	Leader of the House of CommonsLord Privy Seal
Primeminister3	Tony Blair
Term start3	5 May 2006
Term end3	27 June 2007
Predecessor3	Geoff Hoon
Successor3	Harriet Harman
Office4	Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Primeminister4	Tony Blair
Term start4	8 June 2001
Term end4	5 May 2006
Predecessor4	Robin Cook
Successor4	Margaret Beckett
Office5	Home Secretary
Primeminister5	Tony Blair
Term start5	2 May 1997
Term end5	8 June 2001
Predecessor5	Michael Howard
Successor5	David Blunkett
Office6	Shadow Home Secretary
Leader6	Tony Blair
Term start6	22 July 1994
Term end6	2 May 1997
Predecessor6	Tony Blair
Successor6	Michael Howard
Office7	Shadow Secretary of State for the Environment
Leader7	John Smith
Term start7	18 July 1992
Term end7	22 July 1994
Predecessor7	Bryan Gould
Successor7	Frank Dobson
Office8	Member of Parliament for Blackburn
Term start8	3 May 1979
Predecessor8	Barbara Castle
Majority8	9,856 (21.7%)
Birth date	August 03, 1946
Birth place	Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England
Party	Labour
Alma mater	University of LeedsInns of Court School of Law
Religion	Anglicanism
Spouse	Anthea Weston (m. 1968-1977)Alice Perkins (m. 1978-present)
Children	Daughter, son }}

John Whitaker Straw (born 3 August 1946) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn since 1979. He served as Home Secretary from 1997 to 2001, Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2006 and Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons from 2006 to 2007 under Tony Blair. From 2007 to 2010 he was the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and the Secretary of State for Justice, appointed as part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's first Cabinet. Straw is one of only three people to have served in Cabinet continuously from 1997 to 2010 (the others being Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling).

When the Labour Party lost power in May 2010, he briefly became the Shadow Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, Shadow Secretary of State for Justice and the Shadow Deputy Prime Minister, but stood down from the frontbench after the Labour Party elected a new Shadow Cabinet.

Early life

Straw was born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, England; one of his great-grandfathers was a German Jewish immigrant. Straw was brought up at Loughton, Essex by his mother, Joan Sylvia Gilbey on a council estate after his father Walter Arthur Whitaker Straw, an insurance salesman and the son of Arthur Whitaker Straw, left the family and condemned them to poverty. He was educated at Staples Road School, Loughton, and then boarded at Brentwood School, at that time a direct grant grammar school with largely LEA supported pupils, (where he was already expressing political ambitions and took the name "Jack", allegedly after the 14th century peasant leader Jack Straw—although "Jack" is a common diminutive of "John") and read law at the University of Leeds. While he was at Brentwood he opted out of the compulsory CCF (combined cadet force) on conscientious grounds.

Straw was elected chair of the Leeds University Labour Society at the 1966 Annual General Meeting, when the Society changed its name to Leeds University Socialist Society and withdrew its support from the Labour Party (a separate Labour Club was later formed by supporters of the Labour Party in Leeds University Union). When Straw disrupted a student trip to Chile, he was branded a "troublemaker acting with malice aforethought" by the Foreign Office. Straw was then elected president of Leeds University Union with the support of the Broad Left, a coalition including Liberal, Socialist (formerly Labour, see above) and the Communist Societies. The Leeds University Union Council recently reinstated Jack Straw's life membership of the union, as a previous motion had removed his life membership and led to the removal of his name from the Presidents’ Board owing to disagreement with his involvement in anti-terror legislation. At the National Union of Students conference at the end of 1967 he and David Adelstein, the Radicals leader from the London School of Economics, were defeated in their quest for officership in the NUS. That was repeated in April 1968 when Straw stood for NUS President and was defeated by Trevor Fisk. In 1969 he succeeded in being elected President of the increasingly radical National Union of Students, having led the campaign to remove the "no politics" clause from the NUS constitution.

He qualified as a barrister at Inns of Court School of Law and practised criminal law. From 1971 to 1974 Jack Straw was a member of the Inner London Education Authority and Deputy Leader from 1973 to 1974. Straw contested Tonbridge and Malling constituency in Kent in the February 1974 general election. He served as political adviser to Barbara Castle at the Department of Social Security from 1974 to 1976 and then to Peter Shore at the Department for the Environment to 1977. He then worked as a researcher for the Granada TV series, ''World in Action''.

Member of Parliament

Straw was selected to stand for Parliament in Blackburn, Lancashire, Barbara Castle's seat, in 1977 after Castle decided not to stand again. He won the seat in 1979 and has held it since, also becoming honorary president of Blackburn Rovers. In the 1980s, he was an opposition spokesman on Treasury and economic affairs from 1980 to 1983, housing and local government from 1983 until promotion to the Shadow Cabinet in 1987.

Shadow Cabinet

Straw's first Shadow Cabinet post was as Education spokesman from 1987. In this role, he called on Local Education Authorities to give private Muslim and Orthodox Jewish schools the right to opt out of the state system and still receive public funds. He also stated that the schools should be free to enter the state system. His comments came at a time of great controversy regarding the funding of Muslim schools. Straw argued that the controversy arose out of ignorance and stereotyping about women's role in Islam, pointing out that Muslim women acquired property rights centuries before European women. Straw played a significant role in articulating the Labour Party's interest in and sensitivity to the issue.

Straw briefly served as Shadow Environment Secretary under John Smith from 1992 to 1994, speaking on matters concerning local government. When Tony Blair became leader after Smith's death, he chose Straw to succeed him as Shadow Home Secretary. Like Blair, Straw believed Labour's electoral chances had been damaged in the past by the party appearing to be "soft on crime" and he developed a reputation as being even more authoritarian than the Conservative Home Secretary Michael Howard. Straw garnered particular attention for comments condemning "aggressive beggars, winos and squeegee merchants" and calling for a curfew on children.

Home Secretary

Appointed as Home Secretary after the 1997 general election, he brought forward the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, increased police powers against terrorism and proposed to remove the right to trial by jury in certain cases. These policies won praise from Margaret Thatcher who once declared 'I trust Jack Straw. He is a very fair man.' They were deemed excessively authoritarian by his former students' union, which in 2000 banned him from the building—a policy which lapsed in 2003. However, he also incorporated the European Convention on Human Rights into British law, finalising the ''de jure'' abolition of the death penalty, and pressed for action on institutionalised racism in the police revealed by the Stephen Lawrence case.

As Home Secretary, Straw was also involved in changing the electoral system for the European Parliament elections from plurality to proportional representation. In doing so, he advocated the use of d'Hondt formula as being the one that produces the most proportional outcomes. The d'Hondt formular, however, is less proportional to the Sainte-Laguë formula which was proposed by the Liberal Democrats. Straw later apologised to the House of Commons for his misleading comments, but the d'Hondt formula stayed in place.

In March 2000, Jack Straw was responsible for allowing General Augusto Pinochet to return to Chile. There were requests from several countries for Pinochet to be extradited and face trial for crimes against humanity. Pinochet was placed under house arrest in Britain while appealing the legal authority of the Spanish and British courts to try him, but Straw eventually ordered his release on medical grounds before a trial could begin, and Pinochet returned to Chile.

Also in 2000, Straw turned down an asylum request from a man fleeing Saddam Hussein's regime, stating "we have faith in the integrity of the Iraqi judicial process and that you should have no concerns if you haven’t done anything wrong."

He was the last Home Secretary to have all the traditional powers of that office, as following the 2001 general election, the government began transferring all non-law and order responsibilities to other departments.

Foreign Secretary

He was instead appointed Foreign Secretary in 2001 to succeed Robin Cook. Within months Straw was confronted by the 11 September attacks in the United States. He was initially seen as taking a back seat to Tony Blair in the UK Government's prosecution of the "war against terrorism".

He caused controversy in 2002 when he erroneously referred to the Prime Minister as the Head of State.

In 2003 the US-UK Extradition Treaty was negotiated, considered by some to be one-sided because it allows the US to extradite British citizens and others for offences committed against US law, even though the alleged offence may have been committed in Britain by a person living and working in Britain (see for example the NatWest Three), and there being no reciprocal right; and issues about the level of proof required being less to extradite from the UK to the US rather than vice-versa. The treaty was implemented in the Extradition Act 2003, with the manner of its implementation also causing concern because of alleged secrecy and minimal parliamentary scrutiny.

In a letter to ''The Independent'' in 2004, he claimed that Trotskyists "can usually now be found in the City, appearing on quiz shows or ranting in certain national newspapers," and recommended ''"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder'' by Vladimir Lenin.

In the 2004 Equatorial Guinea coup d'état attempt, Jack Straw was personally informed months in advance of the plans for the takeover attempt and failed to accomplish the duty under international law of alerting the country's government. The involvement of British oil companies in the funding of the coup d'état, and the changing of British citizens evacuation plans for Equatorial Guinea before the attempt, posed serious challenges for the alleged ignorance of the situation. Later on, British officials and Jack Straw were forced to apologise to ''The Observer'' after categorically denying they had prior knowledge of the coup plot.

In the run up to the 2005 general election Straw faced a potential backlash from his Muslim constituents over the Iraq War – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK (MPAC) attempted to capitalise on anti-war sentiment with 'operation Muslim vote' in Blackburn. In addition, Craig Murray, who had been pushed out of his job as ambassador to Uzbekistan, stood against his former boss (Straw was head of the FCO) on a platform opposing the use of information gathered under torture in the "War on Terror". Straw's vote fell by 20% compared to the previous general election in 2001 (21,808 to 17,562) although the multiplicity of anti-Straw candidates makes it difficult to discern whether this was a particularly poor result for Straw and Labour. The swing to the second placed Conservatives was less than 2%, much lower than the national average. In any event, Straw was re-elected, while Murray trailed a distant fifth - barely managing to scrape the 5% of the vote necessary to retain his deposit and polling fewer votes than the BNP. Speaking moments after his re-election during the BBC's election night coverage, Straw called MPAC an 'egregious group' and expressed disappointment at its campaign tactics, which he saw as overly aggressive. Straw enjoys a reputation for involved local campaigning in his constituency despite his cabinet post, often spending many hours in the run up to elections literally standing on a soapbox in a high street area taking questions from the crowd and responding to criticism with a microphone.

On 13 October 2005 Straw took questions from a public panel of (mostly anti-war) individuals in a BBC ''Newsnight'' television special on the subject of Iraq, addressing widespread public concerns about the exit strategy for British troops, the Iraqi insurgency and, inevitably, the moral legitimacy of the war. On several occasions Straw reiterated his position that the decision to invade was in his opinion the right thing to do, but said he did not 'know' for certain that this was the case. He said he understood why public opinion on several matters might differ from his own—a Newsnight/ICM poll showed over 70% of respondents believed the war in Iraq to have increased the likelihood of terrorist attacks in Britain, but Straw said he could not agree based on the information presented to him. In February 2006, Straw attracted publicity after he condemned the publication of cartoons picturing Mohammed in the Danish newspaper ''Jyllands-Posten'', and in April 2006, reports of secret White House plans to target Iranian nuclear installations with bunker busting nuclear bombs was described by Jack Straw as "completely nuts".

In August 2006, it was claimed by William Rees-Mogg in ''The Times'' that there was evidence that Straw was removed from this post upon the request of the Bush administration, possibly owing to his expressed opposition to bombing Iran. This would be ironic, as Richard Ingrams in ''The Independent'' wondered whether Straw's predecessor as Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was also removed at Bush's request, allowing Straw to become Foreign Secretary in the first place. It has also been alleged that another factor in Straw's dismissal was the large number of Muslims amongst his Blackburn constituents, supposedly considered a cause for concern by the US. Some Iranian dissidents mocked Straw as "Ayatollah Straw" after his frequent visits to Tehran in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks.

Straw gave evidence to the Iraq Inquiry on 21 January 2010, making him the second member of Tony Blair's cabinet to do so. He told the inquiry that the decision to go to war in Iraq had "haunted him" and that it was the "most difficult decision" of his life. He also said that he could have stopped the invasion, had he wanted to.

Leader of the House of Commons

After the Labour Party suffered major defeats in local elections on 4 May 2006, losing 317 seats in balloting for 176 councils, Tony Blair acted the following day with a major reshuffle of his ministers during which he moved Straw from Foreign Secretary to Leader of the House of Commons and Lord Privy Seal. Straw had apparently requested a break from high ministerial office after serving in two of the four great departments of state for nearly ten years. Straw's close relationship with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was said to have 'infuriated' Number 10, with particular reference to her visit to Straw's Blackburn constituency which caused significant organisational difficulties. It is believed that Straw's public opposition to potential military actions in Iran during his tenure as Foreign Secretary was one of the main reasons behind his demotion. To lessen the apparent demotion, Blair gave Straw responsibility for House of Lords reform and party funding, issues which had been part of the portfolio of the Department for Constitutional Affairs. In addition, Straw was given the chairmanship of the Constitutional Affairs cabinet committee where he was responsible for attempting to force through a flat-fee charge for Freedom of Information requests.

On 25 March 2007, Straw announced he was to run Gordon Brown's campaign for the Labour leadership. This was the first official confirmation the Chancellor would stand.

2006 debate over veils

In October 2006 Straw attracted controversy by suggesting to a local newspaper, ''The Lancashire Evening Telegraph'' (now ''The Lancashire Telegraph''), that Muslim women who wear veils that cover their faces (the ''niqab'') can inhibit inter-community relations, though he denied the issue was raised for political gain, stating that he had raised it in private circles in the past and it had never progressed beyond discussions. Although he did not support a law banning a woman's right to choose to wear the veil, he would like them to abandon it altogether. Asked whether he would prefer veils to be abolished completely, Straw said: "Yes. It needs to be made clear I am not talking about being prescriptive but with all the caveats, yes, I would rather." He said that he had asked women visiting his constituency surgeries to consider uncovering their noses and mouths in order to allow better communication. He claimed that no women had ever chosen to wear a full-veil after this request. However, given that he is known to suffer from tinnitus (which compromises the ability to hear), it is possible that he requested the veil to be removed so that he could lip-read the woman.

Straw's comments kicked off a wide-ranging and sometimes harshly worded debate within British politics and the media; Straw was supported by some establishment figures and castigated by others, including Muslim groups. There is an ongoing debate within the Muslim community whether the Qur'an and ''hadith'' (traditions of Muhammad) require the use of the full face veil. Jack Straw apologised for these comments regarding the veil on 26 April 2010 at a private hustings organised by Engage in the build up to the United Kingdom General Election, 2010.

Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice

Straw was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and Secretary of State for Justice on the first full day of Gordon Brown's ministry, 28 June 2007. He was the first Lord Chancellor since the sixteenth century to serve in the role whilst a member of the House of Commons. His appointment meant that he continued to be a major figure in the Labour Government. Only Straw, Brown and Alistair Darling served in the cabinet continuously during Labour's 13 year administration from 1997 to 2010. Straw represented the government on a controversial edition of Question Time on 22 October 2009, against British National Party leader Nick Griffin on his first ever appearance. Griffin's first comment was to attack Straw's father's wartime record, to general disdain. As Griffin claimed that European laws prevented him from explaining his stance on holocaust denial Straw later offered his personal assurance as Justice Secretary, which Griffin declined.

Alleged ambitions for premiership

When asked during an interview in February 2009 about becoming Prime Minister, Straw said: "If someone came and said "Sign on the dotted line", yes, I'd sign. But if you ask me have I yearned for it? No." When pressed further he responded: "I can honestly say I have no ambitions in that area." The Sun reported this with the headline: 'Straw: I'm ready for PM's job'.

Vetoing Freedom of Information Act requests

In February 2009, Straw used his authority as Justice Secretary to veto publication of government documents requested under the Freedom of Information Act: in particular, those pertaining to early government meetings concerning the (forthcoming) Iraq War.

Expenses claims

On checking his expenses claims prior to publication, Jack Straw found that he had over-claimed for four consecutive years as he had not spotted that he was actually paying 50% for council tax not the full amount. He duly voluntarily paid the amount back while adding in a handwritten note to the Commons authorities that "accountancy does not appear to be my strongest suit".

Retirement from front-bench politics

In August 2010, Straw announced his plans to quit his role as Shadow Justice Secretary and move to the backbenches, citing the need for a ‘fresh start’ for the Labour Party under a new leader.

In April 2011, Straw was appointed as a consultant to E. D. & F. Man Holdings Ltd., a British company based in London specialising in the production and trading of commodities including sugar, molasses, animal feed, tropical oils, biofuels, coffee and financial services. Commenting on his appointment to ED&F; Man on a salary of £30,000 per annum, Straw said, "There are 168 hours in the week, and I will work in Blackburn for a least 60 and maybe sleep for 50. Providing there’s no conflict, I have long taken the view that I am not against people doing other things. I had two jobs as a minister. I think it’s really important that politicians are involved with the outside world.”.

Pakistani men controversy

In January 2011, Straw provoked controversy with comments made on Newsnight about Pakistani men. He said "there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men ... who target vulnerable young white girls." His comments came after two men of Pakistani origin were convicted of rape in Derby.

Personal life

Straw's first marriage, in 1968, to teacher Anthea Weston ended in divorce in 1977. They had a daughter, Rachel, born on 24 February 1976, who died after five days because of a heart defect.

In a legal case in which Straw's son was accused of selling illegal drugs, Straw was represented by solicitor Sir Geoffrey Bindman.

On 10 November 1978 he married Alice Perkins, a senior civil servant. In 2006 Straw's wife joined the board of the country's largest airports operator BAA, shortly before it was taken over by the Spanish firm Ferrovial.

Straw has tinnitus.

He supports his local football club Blackburn Rovers, and was made an Honorary Vice President of Blackburn Rovers in 1998 by Jack Walker.

His son, Will Straw, was president of the Oxford University Student Union, and a Fulbright Scholar. In 2009 he became a founding editor of the political blog, 'Left Foot Forward'

Straw's father, Walter Straw, was sent to prison in 1939 during part of World War II for being a conscientious objector.

Bibliography

Author or co-author

''Implementation of the Human Rights Act 1998: Minutes of Evidence, Wednesday 14 March 2001'' (2001) ISBN 0-10-442701-9

''Making Prisons Work: Prison Reform Trust Annual Lecture'' (1998) ISBN 0-946209-44-8

''Future of Policing and Criminal Justice (Institute of Police & Criminological Studies Occasional Paper S.)'' (1996) ISBN 1-86137-087-3

''Policy and Ideology'' (1993) ISBN 0-9521163-0-8

Reports

''Reform of the Race Relations Act 1976: Proposals for Change Submitted by the Commission for Racial Equality to the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Secretary of State for the Home Department, on 30 April 1998'' (1998) ISBN 1-85442-210-3

Footnotes

External links

Blackburn Labour Party

Online exhibition of the May 1968 student protest in Leeds

Jack Straw, ''BBC News'', Newsnight, 17 October 2002

Category:1946 births Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds Category:British Secretaries of State Category:British Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Category:English Anglicans Category:English barristers Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs Category:Leaders of the House of Commons Category:Living people Category:Lord Chancellors of Great Britain Category:Lords Privy Seal Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies Category:NUS presidents Category:Old Brentwoods Category:People from Epping Forest (district) Category:People from Loughton Category:British people of Jewish descent Category:Politics of Blackburn Category:Presidents of the United Nations Security Council Category:Secretaries of State for the Home Department Category:UK MPs 1979–1983 Category:UK MPs 1983–1987 Category:UK MPs 1987–1992 Category:UK MPs 1992–1997 Category:UK MPs 1997–2001 Category:UK MPs 2001–2005 Category:UK MPs 2005–2010 Category:UK MPs 2010– Category:Witnesses of the Iraq Inquiry

ar:جاك سترو bg:Джак Стро da:Jack Straw de:Jack Straw es:John Whitaker Straw fr:Jack Straw (homme politique) id:Jack Straw it:Jack Straw he:ג'ק סטרו la:Ioannes Straw ms:Jack Straw nl:Jack Straw (politicus) ja:ジャック・ストロー no:Jack Straw pl:Jack Straw pt:John Whitaker Straw ro:Jack Straw ru:Стро, Джек simple:Jack Straw fi:Jack Straw sv:Jack Straw zh:施仲宏

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	Sally Bercow
birth date	November 22, 1969
occupation	Media appearances
yearsactive	}}

Sally Bercow (née Illman; born 22 November 1969) is the wife of the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow. She was a housemate on ''Celebrity Big Brother'' and was evicted from the house on 26 August 2011.

Early life

Sally Illman attended the public school Marlborough College, as a contemporary of the British Prime Minister's wife, Samantha Cameron, and went on to attend Keble College, Oxford, dropping out after two years. The fact that Bercow did not finish her studies at Oxford became a minor controversy in 2009 when it was revealed that she had been sacked from a City public relations firm for trying to conceal this on her CV.

She was the social secretary of the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA) while at the University. It was subsequently reported in the ''Daily Mail'' that during her time with OUCA, she was involved in a social event for which OUCA booked strippers. She met her future husband at a national Conservative Students Conference.

Personal life

In a 2009 interview Bercow spoke about alcoholism and one-night stands in her twenties. She has three children; her eldest son is autistic. She stated that she would not send her children to a grammar school because of her opposition to selection at the age of eleven.

Political career

Sally Bercow addressed two Conservative Party Conferences and her husband became a Conservative MP at the 1997 General Election. However, she changed her political allegiance during the founding days of New Labour and campaigned actively for Tony Blair whilst campaigning for her husband (then partner) win his seat. In 2010, she stood as a Labour candidate for the St James ward of Westminster City Council, receiving 868 votes, 1,000 fewer than her nearest successful rival despite extremely hard campaigning. She is on the approved list of candidates for members of Parliament for the Labour Party and actively campaigned for the election of Ed Balls as leader of the Labour Party. The ''Daily Telegraph'' has suggested that Bercow is politicising her husband's neutral role. John Bercow has rejected this criticism stating "the obligation of impartiality does not apply to my wife who is not my chattel". She has also appeared on ''Question Time'' notably attacking Francis Maude over his government's health reforms.

Media Career

On 11 November 2010 Bercow appeared as a panelist on the BBC's comedy-news show ''Have I Got News For You''.

On 3 February 2011 she attracted criticism for appearing to capitalise on her husband's position, when a photograph of her wearing only a bed sheet, with the House of Commons in the background, appeared in the London ''Evening Standard'' free newspaper. In the article, she was quoted as saying "becoming Speaker has turned my husband into a sex symbol", although she later claimed, in a radio interview; "It was just meant to be a bit of fun, but obviously it has completely backfired on me and I look a complete idiot." The author of a biography of John and Sally Bercow, Bobby Friedman, has claimed that John "read the riot act" to her after the bed sheet photo was published.

On 18 August 2011 Bercow entered the Big Brother House as a housemate on Channel 5's ''Celebrity Big Brother 2011''. She claimed to have chosen this as her way of 'upsetting the establishment'. On 26 August she became the first person to be evicted.

References

External links

Interview with Gair Rhydd

Category:1969 births Category:Labour Party (UK) people Category:Living people Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:Celebrity Big Brother UK contestants

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
name	A. A. Gill
birth name	Adrian Anthony Gill
birth date	June 28, 1954
birth place	Edinburgh, Scotland
occupation	Columnist, author
nationality	British
website	}}

Adrian Anthony Gill (born 28 June 1954) is a British writer who uses the byline A. A. Gill. He is currently employed by ''The Sunday Times'' as their restaurant reviewer and television critic and ''Vanity Fair magazine'' as a restaurant reviewer. His essays are known for their humour and satirical content, but have caused offence to various groups, including the County of Norfolk, Welsh, Manx, Albanians, Germans and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.

Early life and education

A.A. Gill was born in Edinburgh, the son of television producer Michael Gill and his wife, actress Yvonne Gilan, and brother to Nick. The family moved to the south of England when he was one year old. Gill was educated at the progressive independent school St Christopher School in Hertfordshire. He would later recall his experiences at the school for his book ''The Angry Island''. After St Christopher, he moved to London to study at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Art. He is a recovered alcoholic who drank until the age of 30. Gill suffers from severe dyslexia and, consequently, all of his works are written by dictation.

Career and controversies

He was once ejected from one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants, along with his dining partner Joan Collins. Ramsay's reason was that Gill had written a review of his restaurant that covered his personal life more than the food, including calling him a wonderful chef, but a "second-rate human being".

Gill has been critical of Welsh people; in 1998 his descriptions of Welsh people as "loquacious, dissemblers, immoral liars, stunted, bigoted, dark, ugly, pugnacious little trolls" in ''The Sunday Times'' were reported to the Commission for Racial Equality as racist. Gill's comment was used as a prime example of what was described as "persistent anti-Welsh racism in the UK media" in a motion in the National Assembly for Wales put forward by 18 AMs representing the four main political parties.

Gill has also been critical of the English, describing them as "embarrassing" and an "ugly race" as well as a "lumpen and louty, coarse, unsubtle, beady-eyed, beefy-bummed herd".

In October 2009, Gill sparked controversy by reporting in his ''Sunday Times'' column that he shot a baboon dead. His column averred that he knew "perfectly well there [was] absolutely no excuse for [the shooting]", and that he killed the animal in order to "get a sense of what it might be like to kill someone". He went on to state that "[t]hey die hard, baboons. But not this one. A soft-nosed .357 blew his lungs out." The action prompted outrage from animal rights groups.

In September 2010, the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) made a formal judgement against Gill for referring to the sexuality of the BBC Sport presenter Clare Balding in "a demeaning and gratuitous way". ''The Sunday Times'' disclosed Gill had been the subject of 62 PCC complaints in five years. Gill was nominated for the Stonewall Awards as Bigot of the Year for calling Balding a "dyke on a bike, puffing up the nooks and crannies at the bottom end of the nation".

In February 2011, Gill described the county of Norfolk as ‘the hernia on the end of England’, causing outrage across the East of England.

Isle of Man

His best known running feud however has been with the Isle of Man ever since his first review in ''The Sunday Times'' of 22 January 2006 of Ciappelli's restaurant in Douglas also included a critique of the island which, Gill wrote, had:

managed to slip through a crack in the space-time continuum...fallen off the back of the history lorry to lie amnesiac in the road to progress...its main industry is money (laundering, pressing, altering and mending)...everyone you actually see is Benny from Crossroads or Benny in drag...The weather’s foul, the food’s medieval, it’s covered in suicidal motorists and folk who believe in fairies.

This sparked off a minor diplomatic incident, the review being attacked in Tynwald with House of Keys member David Cannan demanding an apology for this "unacceptable and scurrilous attack", whilst Tourism Minister David Cretney claimed it would harm the island's tourism.

Gill made more comments regarding the Isle of Man continued in his Sunday Times column on 23 May 2010, when he described its citizens as falling into two types: 'hopeless, inbred mouth-breathers known as Bennies' and 'retired, small arms dealers and accountants who deal in rainforest futures'. His comments were made in the aftermath of Mick Jagger's suggestion that drugs should be legalised in the Isle of Man. Gill added that 'If...they [sic] become a hopelessly addicted, criminal cesspit, who’d care? Indeed, who could tell the difference?'.

Personal life

Gill's first wife was the author Cressida Connolly, daughter of the writer Cyril Connolly. They later divorced.

His second wife was Amber Rudd, a financial journalist and Conservative MP for Hastings and Rye, who appeared in his column as "The Silver-spoon". They have two children, Flora and Alasdair.

He now has a long-term relationship with Nicola Formby, editor at large of the ''Tatler'', who appears in his column as "The Blonde". They have twins, Edith and Isaac, born in March 2007.

References

Bibliography

''Sap Rising'' (1997)

''The Ivy: The Restaurant and Its Recipes '' (1999) with Mark Hix ISBN 978-0-340-69312-4

''Le Caprice'' (1999) with Mark Hix ISBN 978-0-340-73838-2

''Starcrossed'' (1999)

''AA Gill is Away'' (2003) collection of travel writing. ISBN 978-0-7538-1681-3

''The Angry Island: Hunting the English'' (2005) a book about England and the English. ISBN 978-0-297-84318-4

''Previous Convictions: Writing with Intent'' (2006) assignments from here and there. ISBN 978-0-297-85162-2

''Table Talk: Sweet And Sour, Salt and Bitter'' (2007) Selection of Gill's writing about food, taken from his Sunday Times and Tatler columns.

''Breakfast at the Wolseley'' (2008) ISBN 978-1-84400-444-7

''Paper View: The Best of The Sunday Times Television Columns'' (2008) ISBN 978-0-7538-1768-1

Further reading

Robert Booth, ''The Guardian'', 27 October 2009, AA Gill shot baboon 'to see what it would be like to kill someone'

John Crace, ''The Guardian'', 2 January 2006, AA puts the English on the couch but merely exposes himself

Talking table with AA Gill - interview from Australian Gourmet Traveller, Jan 2008

Journalisted - Articles by A. A. Gill

- A.A. Gill's famous Isle of Man review.

A.A. Gill praised by Manx Tourism Minister for the same restaurant review he was condemned for by the previous incumbent.

Category:Alumni of the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design Category:Anglo-Scots Category:British journalists Category:The Sunday Times people Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People self-identifying as alcoholics Category:Restaurant critics Category:Scottish journalists Category:People educated at St Christopher School, Letchworth

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
playername	Paul McMullan
fullname	Paul Alexander McMullan
dateofbirth	March 13, 1984
cityofbirth	Bellshill
countryofbirth	Scotland
height
position	Midfielder
currentclub	Clyde
years1	2001–2004 | clubs1 Heart of Midlothian | caps1 19 | goals1 1
years2	2003–2004 | clubs2 → Queen of the South (loan) | caps2 11 | goals2 0
years3	2004–2005 | clubs3 Inverness CT | caps3 0 | goals3 0
years4	2005 | clubs4 Raith Rovers | caps4 10 | goals4 1
years5	2005–2006 | clubs5 Hamilton Academical | caps5 14 | goals5 1
years6	2006–2007 | clubs6 Stranraer | caps6 23 | goals6 2
years7	2007–2011 | clubs7 Berwick Rangers | caps7 60 | goals7 1
years8	2011– | clubs8 Clyde | caps8 3 | goals8 0
club-update	14:29, 19 August 2011 (UTC) }}

Paul Alexander McMullan (born 13 March 1984 in Bellshill) is a Scottish professional football midfielder currently playing for Clyde.

Career

McMullan signed for Clyde in January 2011.

References

External links

Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish footballers Category:Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Category:Stranraer F.C. players Category:Clyde F.C. players Category:Queen of the South F.C. players Category:Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Category:Raith Rovers F.C. players Category:Hamilton Academical F.C. players Category:Berwick Rangers F.C. players Category:Scottish Football League players Category:Scottish Premier League players Category:People from Bellshill Category:Association football midfielders