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Isabel Oakeshott

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Isabel Oakeshott
Born
Isabel Oakeshott

1974 or 1975 (age 49–50)[1]
EducationGordonstoun
Alma materUniversity of Bristol
OccupationPolitical journalist
Children3

Isabel Oakeshott is a British political journalist and broadcaster.

She 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, and Farmageddon, co-authored with Philip Lymbery.

Early life

Oakeshott attended St. George's School, Edinburgh and Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland,[2] before graduating in 1996 with a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Bristol.[3]

Journalism career

Oakeshott began her career in journalism working in Scotland 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.[4]

After three years, Oakeshott moved to The Sunday Times in 2006 as deputy political editor,[5] becoming political editor in 2010, and remained until 2014.[6] Oakeshott was awarded the title "Political Journalist of the Year" at the 2011 The Press Awards.[7]

In 2013, while at The Sunday Times, she persuaded Vicky Pryce to implicate her 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.[8]

Oakeshott has appeared as a panelist on the BBC's Daily Politics,[9] as well as on BBC TV's Question Time,[10] and has been a contributor to Sky News' Press Preview programme.[11][12]

Between February 2016 and early 2017, Oakeshott was the Daily Mail's political editor-at-large.[13][14] 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.[15] The leak led to his resignation.[16]

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 apologised to Oakeshott.[17][18]

In October 2021, she joined GB News as the presenter of the Friday lunchtime political programme The Briefing with Isabel Oakeshott, hosting 22 hour-long episodes until the end of March 2022.[19]

In April 2022, it was announced that she would be joining the new TalkTV channel.

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.[20] Farmageddon: the true cost of cheap meat, co-written with Philip Lymbery, addresses the effects of industrial-scale meat production.[21]

Call Me Dave, co-written with Michael Ashcroft, is an unauthorised biography of former British prime minister David Cameron.[22] 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,[23] and Oakeshott subsequently conceded her source could have been "deranged".[24] In 2018 she co-authored with Ashcroft a book on the state of the British Armed Forces, White Flag?.[25]

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.[26] Oakeshott is a supporter of Brexit.[27] 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.[28][29]

Oakeshott helped former Health Secretary Matt Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries, The Inside Story Of Britain's Battle Against Covid.[30] Published in December 2022, it was widely viewed as an attempt by Hancock to rehabilitate his reputation, following his ministerial resignation for breaking the UK's Covid lockdown rules with his mistress Gina Coladangelo, and criticism of his appearance on the ITV reality series I'm A Celebrity Get me Out Of Here, while he was still a serving and salaried MP.[31]

In March 2023, Oakeshott passed more than 100,000 of Hancock's WhatsApp messages to The Daily Telegraph.[32] This matter is now subject to legal action; a breach of a Non-disclosure agreement has been admitted.[33] Oakeshott maintained she believed releasing the messages was in the public interest.[34]

Personal life

Oakeshott married Nigel Rosser and has three children.[35][36] In 2018, she was reported to be in a relationship with businessman, and future Reform UK leader, Richard Tice.[37]

She is related to life peer Matthew Oakeshott and the liberal conservative philosopher Michael Oakeshott.[38][citation needed]

Bibliography

  • Watt, Peter (2010). Inside Out: My Story of Betrayal and Cowardice at the Heart of New Labour. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-038-4.
  • Lymbery, Philip; Oakeshott, Isabel (2014). Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-4088-4644-5.
  • Ashcroft, Michael; Oakeshott, Isabel (2015). Call Me Dave. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84954-914-1.
  • Ghostwriter of Banks, Arron (2016). The Bad Boys of Brexit. Biteback Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78590-182-9.

References

  1. ^ Mussen, Maddy (1 March 2023). "Isabel Oakeshott: the political journalist who turned on Matt Hancock". Evening Standard.
  2. ^ "Moray students have their say on Scottish independence". The Press and Journal. 14 September 2014.
  3. ^ "Isabel Oakeshott (BA 1996)". Alumni and friends. Bristol University. Archived from the original on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2015.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Axe grinder 15.12.05". Press Gazette. 15 December 2005. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  6. ^ "Sunday Times hires new political editor". The Guardian. 17 January 2014.
  7. ^ "Winners List". The Press Awards. 2011. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 8 October 2015.
  8. ^ "Isabel Oakeshott: Vicky Pryce double-crossed me". New Statesman. 10 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Daily Politics and Sunday Politics highlights of 2014". BBC News. 6 January 2014.
  10. ^ "Nigel Farage blames traffic jam for BBC Question Time no-show". Independent. 5 February 2016.
  11. ^ "Front Pages". Sky News. 16 March 2016.
  12. ^ "Thursday's national newspaper front pages". Sky News. 24 May 2017.
  13. ^ "Remainers are 'changing mind' about Brexit despite hit to ad industry". Campaign. 26 January 2017.
  14. ^ "Isabel Oakeshott exits the Mail". The Spectator. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 15 June 2017.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Sir Kim Darroch resigns: Letter in full". BBC News. 10 July 2019. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  17. ^ Mayhew, Freddy (22 July 2019). "Guardian apologises to Isabel Oakeshott over 'fictitious' comment in cables leak sketch". Press Gazette.
  18. ^ Crace, John (8 July 2019). "Ambassador's trashing of Trump gives MPs chance to enjoy a bit of deploring". The Guardian.
  19. ^ "GBNews - YouTube". YouTube.
  20. ^ "Inside Out by Peter Watt, with Isabel Oakeshott". The Guardian. 13 February 2010.
  21. ^ "Farmageddon by Philip Lymbery with Isabel Oakeshott, review". The Telegraph. 10 February 2014.
  22. ^ "Journalist sparks disabled parking row". BBC News. 20 February 2018.
  23. ^ "Call Me Dave by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, review: 'winks and rumours'". The Telegraph. 15 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Call Me Dave author Isabel Oakshott reveals 'Piggate' claims could be false". The Huffington Post. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ "The bluster and blunder that birthed a new political era". New Statesman. 21 November 2016.
  27. ^ "Journalists clash over Vote Leave spending story". BBC News. 25 March 2018.
  28. ^ Hines, Nico (10 June 2018). "How a Journalist Kept Russia's Secret Links to Brexit Under Wraps". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  29. ^ Waterson, Jim (11 June 2018). "Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  30. ^ "What Matt Hancock should have written in his Pandemic Diaries | Tom Peck". Independent. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  31. ^ "Matt Hancock: I'm a Celeb appearance not primarily about money". BBC News. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  32. ^ Waterson, Jim (1 March 2023). "Isabel Oakeshott: the journalist who turned over Matt Hancock". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 March 2023.
  33. ^ "Covid messages leak a massive betrayal, says Matt Hancock". BBC News. 1 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  34. ^ ]https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-64822872 Isabel Oakeshott reveals why she leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApp messages] BBC
  35. ^ "The Londoner: Thatcher portrait left without home". London Evening Standard. 18 June 2018.
  36. ^ "Isabel Oakeshott". Isabel Oakeshott. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  37. ^ Gilligan, Andrew; Shipman, Tim (14 July 2019). "Trump leak scandal engulfs Brexit Party". The Sunday Times.
  38. ^ "Chris Huhne: A family affair". BBC News. 16 May 2011.
Media offices
Preceded by
Jonathan Oliver
 Political Editor of The Sunday Times
2010–2014 		Succeeded by

Template:GB News

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