British political journalist
Isabel Oakeshott (born 12 June 1974) is a British
political journalist .
Oakeshott was the political editor of
The Sunday Times and is the co-author, with
Michael Ashcroft , of an
unauthorised biography of former British prime minister
David Cameron ,
Call Me Dave , and of various other non-fiction titles, including White Flag? An Examination of the UK's Defence Capability , also written with Ashcroft,
Farmageddon , co-written with
Philip Lymbery , and
Pandemic Diaries , co-written with
Matt Hancock , which provides an account of Hancock's tenure as the UK's
Health Secretary during the
COVID-19 pandemic .
Early life
Oakeshott was educated firstly at
St George's School ,
Edinburgh , and then at
Gordonstoun School in
Moray , Scotland.
[1] In 1996, she graduated with
BA in history from the
University of Bristol .
[2]
Journalism career
Politically, Oakeshott is regarded as a
right-wing journalist.
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
Oakeshott began her career in journalism in Scotland, working for the
East Lothian Courier ,
Edinburgh Evening News ,
Daily Record ,
Sunday Mirror and
Daily Mail , before returning to London and joining the
Evening Standard as the Health correspondent.
[7] After three years, she moved to
The Sunday Times in 2006 as deputy political editor,
[8] becoming political editor in 2010, and remained until 2014.
[9] She was awarded the title Political Journalist of the Year at the 2011
The Press Awards .
[10]
In 2013, while at The Sunday Times , she persuaded
Vicky Pryce to implicate Pryce's estranged husband, former
Liberal Democrat
MP and
Cabinet minister
Chris Huhne , in having committed the offence of
perverting the course of justice , leading to the case
R v Huhne , and to both Pryce and Huhne being convicted and imprisoned.
[11]
[12]
Oakeshott has appeared as a panelist on the
BBC 's
Daily Politics ,
[13] as well as on BBC TV's
Question Time ,
[14] and has been a contributor to
Sky News ' Press Preview programme.
[15]
[16]
Between February 2016 and early 2017, Oakeshott was the Daily Mail ' s political
editor-at-large .
[17]
[18] In 2019, she wrote a series of articles for The Mail on Sunday based on leaked diplomatic memos written by the
British Ambassador to the United States Sir
Kim Darroch , in which he criticised the
Trump administration .
[19] The leak led to his resignation.
[20]
In July 2019,
The Guardian amended an article by its parliamentary sketch writer
John Crace which contained a sentence that had potentially implied that Oakeshott obtained the Darroch emails by sleeping with
Nigel Farage or
Arron Banks . At the time, she called the comment "demonstrably false and extraordinarily sexist". The newspaper later published an apology.
[21]
[22]
[23]
In September 2021,
GB News announced that Oakeshott would be hosting a weekly show on the channel.
[24] She left to join
TalkTV as its International Editor in April 2022. She earns a £250,000 salary for the role.
[25]
[26] Her prominence in these roles led to the
New Statesman naming her as the 32nd most influential right-wing political figure in the UK.
[27]
Writing career
Oakeshott has written a number of non-fiction books. Inside Out , co-written with, or
ghostwritten for, Labour Party insider
Peter Watt , is an inside look at
New Labour .
[28]
Farmageddon: the true cost of cheap meat , co-written with
Philip Lymbery , addresses the effects of industrial-scale meat production.
[29]
Call Me Dave , co-written with
Michael Ashcroft , is an unauthorised biography of former British
prime minister
David Cameron .
[30] One of the details in the book – that Cameron, during his university days,
allegedly performed a sex act involving a dead pig – caused controversy upon publication. The unsubstantiated story was dependent on hearsay,
[31] and Oakeshott subsequently conceded her source could have been "deranged".
[32]
In 2018 she co-authored with Ashcroft a book on the state of the
British Armed Forces , White Flag? .
[33]
The Bad Boys of Brexit is an inside account of the
Leave.EU campaign during the run-up to the
Brexit referendum , which she had ghostwritten for
UKIP donor and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks.
[34] Oakeshott is a supporter of Brexit.
[35] She was in possession of details about Russia's cultivation and handling of Banks, that he was in regular contact with Russian officials from 2015 to 2017, but publicly downplayed Russian involvement with him.
[36]
[37]
Oakeshott helped former Health Secretary
Matt Hancock write his book,
Pandemic Diaries , The Inside Story Of Britain's Battle Against Covid .
[38]
Oakeshott then passed more than 100,000 of Hancock's
WhatsApp messages to
The Daily Telegraph , who began to publish them in February 2023 in a series called the
Lockdown Files .
[39] She had been given the messages for the purpose of using them to help write Hancock's book and she was subject to a contractual confidentiality restriction.
[40] The files revealed details of the health and public-order decision-making during the COVID-19 lockdown, and various political figures and civil servants including Hancock himself, then Prime Minister
Boris Johnson , the UK's most senior civil servant, the Cabinet Secretary
Simon Case , Chief Medical Officer,
Chris Whitty and Chancellor of the Exchequer,
Rishi Sunak .
[41]
Oakeshott said that leaking the messages was in the public interest.
[42] Oakeshott said Hancock sent a "threatening" message alleging she had made a "big mistake" and added "He's since followed through with threats of legal action."
[43] Oakeshott herself has been described as "a journalist who has long made clear her disdain for his lockdown policies" and as an "anti-lockdown campaigner".
[44]
[45]
Personal life
Oakeshott married Nigel Rosser and has three children.
[46]
[47] In 2018, she began a relationship with businessman and
Reform UK party leader
Richard Tice .
[48]
[49]
During the
COVID-19 pandemic , when Oakeshott and Tice were caught[
by whom? ] at a social gathering (allegedly against the regulations at the time), they made reference to testing their eyesight – an apparent signal to an earlier
Dominic Cummings scandal .
[50]
Oakeshott is related to
life peer
Matthew Oakeshott .
[51]
Oakeshott is a supporter of
Brexit , and has close links to the
Conservative Party donor
Michael Ashcroft .
[52]
Bibliography
Watt, Peter (2010). Inside Out: My Story of Betrayal and Cowardice at the Heart of New Labour .
Biteback Publishing .
ISBN
978-18-4954-038-4 .
Lymbery, Philip ; Oakeshott, Isabel (2014).
Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat .
Bloomsbury .
ISBN
978-14-0884-644-5 .
Ashcroft, Michael ; Oakeshott, Isabel (2015).
Call Me Dave . Biteback Publishing.
ISBN
978-18-4954-914-1 .
Ghostwriter of
Banks, Arron (2016). The Bad Boys of Brexit . Biteback Publishing.
ISBN
978-17-8590-182-9 .
Ashcroft, Michael ; Oakeshott, Isabel (2018). White Flag? an examination of the UK's defence capability . Biteback Publishing.
ISBN
978-17-8590-410-3 .
Ashcroft, Michael ; Oakeshott, Isabel (2022). Life Support: The state of the NHS in an age of pandemics . Biteback Publishing.
ISBN
978-17-8590-625-1 .
Hancock, Matt ; Oakeshott, Isabel (2022). Pandemic Diaries: The inside story of Britain's battle against Covid . Biteback Publishing.
ISBN
978-17-8590-774-6 .
References
^
"Moray students have their say on Scottish independence" . The Press and Journal . Aberdeen. 14 September 2014.
^
"Isabel Oakeshott (BA 1996)" . Alumni and friends .
Bristol University . Archived from
the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015 .
^ Shipton, Martin (7 July 2018).
"Controversial Ukip funder and Brexit supporter Arron Banks was Cardiff's Honorary Consul from Belize" . WalesOnline . Retrieved 17 December 2023 .
^ Dudcock, Barry (5 March 2023).
"A tawdry start, but a lockdown reckoning is overdue" . The Herald . Retrieved 17 December 2023 .
^ Mathers, Matt (1 March 2023).
"Who is Isabel Oakeshott? The controversial reporter Matt Hancock trusted with 100,000 Whatsapp messages" . AOL . The Independent. Retrieved 17 December 2023 .
^ Evans, Albert (5 October 2018).
" 'Don't you start!' Emily Thornberry lets rip at right-wing commentator during Question Time debate on austerity" . i News . Retrieved 17 December 2023 .
^
"Isabel Oakeshott, Political Editor-at-Large, Daily Mail" (PDF) . Media Masters . 14 April 2016. Archived from
the original (PDF) on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017 .
^
"Axe grinder 15.12.05" .
Press Gazette . 15 December 2005. Retrieved 25 October 2022 .
^
"Sunday Times hires new political editor" .
The Guardian . 17 January 2014.
^
"Winners List" .
The Press Awards . 2011. Archived from
the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2015 .
^
"Isabel Oakeshott: Vicky Pryce double-crossed me" .
New Statesman . 10 March 2013.
^ Ponsford, Dominic (11 March 2013).
"Sunday Times journalist Isabel Oakeshott says she fulfilled her moral obligation to Vicky Pryce" . Press Gazette .
^
"Daily Politics and Sunday Politics highlights of 2014" .
BBC News . 6 January 2014.
^
"Nigel Farage blames traffic jam for BBC Question Time no-show" .
Independent . 5 February 2016.
^
"Front Pages" .
Sky News . 16 March 2016.
^
"Thursday's national newspaper front pages" . Sky News . 24 May 2017.
^
"Remainers are 'changing mind' about Brexit despite hit to ad industry" .
Campaign . 26 January 2017.
^
"Isabel Oakeshott exits the Mail" .
The Spectator . 26 January 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017 .
^ Mason, Rowena; Walker, Peter (8 July 2019).
"Theresa May has 'full faith' in Kim Darroch but rejects his view of Trump" . The Guardian . Retrieved 14 July 2019 .
^
"Sir Kim Darroch resigns: Letter in full" . BBC News . 10 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019 .
^ Mayhew, Freddy (22 July 2019).
"Guardian apologises to Isabel Oakeshott over 'fictitious' comment in cables leak sketch" . Press Gazette.
^
"Corrections and clarifications" .
The Guardian . 19 July 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2023 .
^ Crace, John (8 July 2019).
"Ambassador's trashing of Trump gives MPs chance to enjoy a bit of deploring" . The Guardian .
^ Waddell, Lily (3 September 2021).
"GB News' Andrew Neil will 'not return to TV channel next week' " . Evening Standard .
^
"Isabel Oakeshott Returns To News UK for TalkTV" . News UK. 8 April 2022.
^ Thomas, Tobi (4 March 2023).
"Isabel Oakeshott hangs up on Times Radio during heated interview" . The Guardian .
^ Statesman, New (27 September 2023).
"The New Statesman's right power list" .
New Statesman . London. Retrieved 14 December 2023 .
^
"Inside Out by Peter Watt, with Isabel Oakeshott" .
The Guardian . 13 February 2010.
^
"Farmageddon by Philip Lymbery with Isabel Oakeshott, review" .
The Telegraph . 10 February 2014.
^
"Journalist sparks disabled parking row" . BBC News . 20 February 2018.
^
"Call Me Dave by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, review: 'winks and rumours' " .
The Telegraph . 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2018 .
^
"Call Me Dave author Isabel Oakshott reveals 'Piggate' claims could be false" .
The Huffington Post . 9 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2018 .
^ Marozzi, Justin (7 October 2018).
"Review: White Flag? An Examination of the UK's Defence Capability by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott — a sit-up-and-listen investigation" . The Sunday Times . London.
^
"The bluster and blunder that birthed a new political era" . New Statesman . London. 21 November 2016.
^
"Journalists clash over Vote Leave spending story" . BBC News . 25 March 2018.
^ Hines, Nico (10 June 2018).
"How a Journalist Kept Russia's Secret Links to Brexit Under Wraps" . The Daily Beast . Retrieved 2 July 2018 .
^ Waterson, Jim (11 June 2018).
"Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit" . The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2 July 2018 .
^ Peck, Tom (7 December 2022).
"What Matt Hancock should have written in his Pandemic Diaries" . The Independent . London. Retrieved 1 March 2023 .
^
"The Lockdown Files: How WhatsApp messages offer an unprecedented view of government failings" . The Telegraph . London. 28 February 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023 .
^ Waterson, Jim (1 March 2023).
"Isabel Oakeshott: the journalist who turned over Matt Hancock" . The Guardian . Retrieved 1 March 2023 .
^
"The Lockdown Files: 10 things we've learned so far" . The Telegraph . London. 4 March 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2023 .
^
"Isabel Oakeshott reveals why she leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApp messages" . BBC News . 2 March 2023. Retrieved 3 March 2023 .
^ Patrick, Holly (3 March 2023).
"Matt Hancock has threatened me with legal action, says Isabel Oakeshott" . The Independent . London.
^ Waterson, Jim (1 March 2023).
"Isabel Oakeshott: the journalist who turned over Matt Hancock" . The Guardian . London. Retrieved 15 September 2023 .
^ Razzall, Katie (2 March 2023).
"Matt Hancock and Isabel Oakeshott: A tale of scoops, betrayal and WhatsApp" . BBC News . Retrieved 15 September 2023 .
^
"The Londoner: Thatcher portrait left without home" . London Evening Standard . 18 June 2018.
^
"Isabel Oakeshott" . Isabel Oakeshott .
Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015 .
^
Gilligan, Andrew ;
Shipman, Tim (14 July 2019).
"Trump leak scandal engulfs Brexit Party" .
The Sunday Times . Retrieved 3 March 2023 .
^
"Who is Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who broke an NDA to leak Matt Hancock's WhatsApps?" . Sky News . 3 March 2023.
^ Murphy, Simon; Walker, Peter (5 June 2020).
"Tory MP attended lockdown barbecue with journalists" .
The Guardian . London. Retrieved 24 February 2024 .
^
"Chris Huhne: A family affair" .
BBC News . 16 May 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2023 .
^ Waterson, Jim (11 June 2018).
"Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit" . The Guardian . Retrieved 15 September 2023 .
External links
Media offices
Preceded byJonathan Oliver
Political Editor of
The Sunday Times 2010–2014
Succeeded by
International National Academics Other