BIOGRAPHY

Iain Dale is one of Britain's leading political commentators, appearing regularly on TV and radio. Iain is best known for his political blog, Iain Dale's Diary and football blog, West Ham Till I Die. He is a contributing editor and columnist for GQ Magazine, writes for the Daily Telegraph and a fortnightly diary for the Eastern Daily Press. He was the chief anchor of Britain's first political internet TV channel, 18 Doughty Street.com and is a presenter on LBC Radio. He appears regularly as a political pundit on Sky News, the BBC News Channel, Newsnight, Radio 4 and Radio 5 Live. He is the publisher of the monthly magazine, Total Politics and the author or editor of more than twenty books. He is managing director of the new book publisher, Biteback Publishing.

Iain stood as a Conservative candidate at the last election and was Chief of Staff to the Rt Hon David Davis MP in the recent Conservative Party leadership election. He is a former political lobbyist, financial journalist and publisher and was the founder of Politico's Bookstore. He is the creator and host of the theatre production A Night With Ann Widdecombe, which tours provincial theatres all round the country. He was the Founder of the Conservative History Group and co-director of the Campaign for Fixed Term Parliaments. Iain is also a vocal proponent of an English Parliament.

Iain is an accomplished public speaker, and can be booked through the Specialist Speakers bureau. He is much in demand for both set-piece speeches on current affairs, as well as humorous after dinner type speeches.

He is a former financial journalist with Lloyds List, and was a political lobbyist before setting up his own political bookselling and publishing company, Politico's, in the late 1990s. He was a presenter of Radio 5 Live's Sunday Service programme alongside Fi Glover and Charlie Whelan from 2000 to 2004, and presented 5 Live's 2001 election night documentary Counting Chickens.

The following are among his programme credits: Any Questions,Andrew Marr Show, Newsnight, Breakfast with Frost, Today Programme, Simon Mayo Show, Question Time Extra, 5 Live Breakfast, 5 Live Drive, Victoria Derbyshire, the Jon Gaunt Show, The Panel (Irish equivalent of Have I Got News for You), Steve Wright Show, The Sandy Toksvig LBC Show, Between the Lines (Press TV), News at Ten and the Iain Dale Show on PlayRadioUK. He presented 17 hours of radio coverage of the 2009 local and European elections.

Iain has written or edited more than twenty books including Margaret Thatcher: A Tribute in Words & Pictures, The Little Book of Boris and 500 of the Most Acerbic, Witty & Erudite Things Ever Said About Politics.