About Iain Dale
A brief biography of our Website's host

Iain Dale, 41, is the Prospective Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for North Norfolk.

He is the owner of Politico’s Bookstore in Westminster and a political commentator on radio and television. Iain has been involved in Conservative politics since 1978. He founded the University of East Anglia Conservative Association in 1983 and went on to work for the Norwich North MP Patrick Thompson as a researcher at the House of Commons from 1985-87. He ran the election campaigns in Norwich North in 1987 and 1992 and has stood as a local government candidate in Norwich, Walthamstow and Tower Hamlets.

Iain is a regular face on our TV screens, particularly on Sky News and BBC News 24, and has appeared on Breakfast with Frost, Despatch Box and a host of other political TV programmes. He is a familiar voice on radio and was a presenter of Radio 5 Live’s Sunday Service programme alongside Fi Glover and Charlie Whelan. He has his own monthly show, Planet Politics, on Oneword and is a regular with Sandi Toksvig and Katie Derham on LBC, as well as a frequent guest on Radio 5 Live’s Late Night Live and Simon Mayo Shows. He has also appears regularly on Radio 4’s Today programme and Broadcasting House as well as Newsnight and the News at Ten. He hosts the theatre show A Night with Ann Widdecombe, appearing in more than thirty theatres around the country.

In 2001 Iain was named by the London Evening Standard as one of the 200 most influential people in London.

Iain is the founder and director of the Conservative History Group. He created and edits the website www.MargaretThatcher.com and is on the board of two think tanks, Policy Exchange and the Public Policy Foundation. He is also on the committee of the Macmillan Cancer Relief Parliamentary Tug of war. His particular interests are transport policy, the restoration of the supremacy of Parliament, the protection of Britain’s overseas territories - especially the Falklands, visual pollution and the promotion of free enterprise.

Iain was born in Cambridge in 1962 and was raised on a farm near Saffron Walden in Essex. He is a graduate in German and Linguistics from UEA in Norwich and has spent two years living in Germany, teaching English and working in a spinal injuries hospital. Iain was totally fluent in German but admits it now needs a little freshening.

He was public affairs manager of the British Ports Federation from 1987-1989 and ran the successful lobbying campaign to repeal the National Dock Labour Scheme. In 1990 he a financial journalist on the financial daily newspaper, Lloyds List. From 1991 to 1996 he was Managing Director of the Waterfront Conference Company and Deputy MD of the transport consultancy, The Waterfront Partnership. In 1997 he founded Politico’s Bookstore and went on to develop Politico’s Publishing (which was sold to Methuen in 2003) and Politico’s Design, a website agency. In 2003 he formed Politico’s Media, which publishes videos, DVDs and CDs.

Iain is a season ticket holder at West Ham United (and still attends every match albeit in Division 1!). His musical interests are, er, esoteric and he has a massive CD collection. He’s also a great aficionado of the Eurovision Song Contest and enjoys travel, especially to the United States. He is a fan of Audi cars (and is currently on his seventh!). Iain has edited or written a dozen books including Memories of Maggie, Memories of the Falklands, the Tony Blair New Labour Joke Book, the Dictionary of Conservative Quotations and the Bill Clinton Joke Book.

IN 1999 IAIN DID A Q&A INTERVIEW WITH THE BOOKSELLER MAGAZINE FOR THEIR ENCOUNTER COLUMN. THIS WAS THE RESULT

When and where were you most happiest?

On February 18 1997, the day Politico’s opened.

What makes you laugh?

The Fast Show, Frankie Howerd and Tony Banks

What is your worst trait?

I would like to say it is impatience, but most others would probably say it’s arrogance

What irritates you most about life?

Not being able to drive as fast as I want to on my own roads and people who abuse books

What do you love most about life?

Yorkshire Pudding, West Ham United, Audi Cabriolets, Abba and Jack Russells

What is your favourite place?

Upton Park at 4.45pm on a Saturday afternoon following a convincing 5-0 victory against Manchester United

What is your favourite food?

Apart from Yorkshire Pudding, baked raspberry cheesecake and mexican casserole (but not together)

What is your favourite film?

Sound of Music, Muriel’s Wedding, Airplane or Independence Day. I like contrasts.

What is your favourite song?

Miss You Nights by Cliff Richard or Paradise by the Dashboard Light by Meatloaf

Where would you most like to go on holiday and why?

Richard Branson’s island in the Caribbean - but only on the precondition that he wouldn’t be there.

What is the most outrageous thing you have ever done or would like to do?

I once appeared in the Sunday Sport under the headline “Horse Fart Signals End of Dock Strike”. It’s best not to ask...

If you won the lottery tomorrow what would you do?

Blow the lot in twelve of the happiest hours of my life

What is your motto?

Born Free. Taxed to Death.

What keeps you awake at night?

Gio, my Jack Russell

What was the first record you ever bought?

Long Live Love by Olivia Newton John - the first of my burgeoning Eurovision collection!

When did you last buy a book?

Apart from nicking them from my shop you mean...I bought a Good Hotel Guide in preparation for a trip to Hay on Wye. Waste of money!

What are you reading now?

A proof copy of Peter Preston’s new novel ‘51st State’. It’s about Britain leaving the EU and joining the USA. Superb book.

What book would you most like to have written? Why?

The Aachen Memorandum by Andrew Roberts. It’s a superb insight into the future of Britain and the European Union.

What is the worst book you have ever read? Why?

Any book on German linguistics. I still don’t know how I got my degree...

What would you most like the government to do?

You mean apart from refusing to ever join a single currency?

What is your greatest ambition?

To retire at 40

What did you envisage for yourself when you were a child?

I was always going to follow in my father’s footsteps and take over his farm. Politics sort of got in the way...

When and how did you start your current job?

In May 1996 I resigned from my last job as a lobbyist and was suddenly faced with deciding where my career was heading. I decided to see whether a political bookstore might work and we opened seven months later!

Where were you working before that?

I worked in political lobbying for ten years.

Where and what was your first job in the trade?

Foolishly I started Politico’s with no book trade experience at all - neither did my partner, John Simmons, or any of our staff.

How do you think you got it?

I interview very well - particularly when I’m interviewing myself for the job.

Who was your boss?

I’m my own boss, which means I don’t think I could ever face working for anyone else ever again. I suppose I have two bosses really - my shareholders and my customers.

What do you enjoy/hate most about your job?

I love the PR side and the media punditry on politics it has brought me. I hate lieing to authors about the hundreds of their books we haven’t sold but it’s kinder really isn’t it?

What is the worst thing you have had to do in any of your jobs?

Sacked one of my best friends. I resigned myself a few weeks later.

What are you most proud of?

The fact that Politico’s has become so much a part of the Westminster furniture after such a short time.

What would make your job easier?

If I never had to write another cheque.

What would you most like to see changed in the book trade?

Quicker delivery times and a basic understanding among publishers that their job is to sell books. Someimes I wonder...

What do you see as the next Big Thing for the booktrade?

The end of Sale or Return - and not before time. I’m probably in a minority of one among booksellers in believing it would transform the book trade for the better

Is there anyone in the trade you particularly respect? Why?

Jeremy Robson, MD of Robson Books. Apart from having the good sense to publish four books by me in the last 15 months he is a thoroughly nice man.

Who or what has been the greatest influence on your career so far? Why?

My Grandmother and Margaret Thatcher. They both got me interested in politics at a relatively young age.

If you were not in the trade what would you be doing?

I was in line to be BBC Transport Correspondent but decided to open Politico’s instead, so probably something in the media

Any regrets?

I bought an Audi Cabriolet in 1995 which used to be owned by Princess Diana. I sold it a year later. Oh dear. It’s the same with shares. I always sell them too early!