Peter Oborne

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Peter Alan Oborne

Born 11 July 1957 (1957-07-11) (age 52)
Nationality British
Residence United Kingdom
Alma mater Cambridge University (Christ's College)
Profession Journalist
Supports West Ham football team

Peter Oborne (born 11 July 1957) is an English journalist and political commentator. He was educated at Sherborne and Cambridge. A Daily Mail columnist and author of The Rise of Political Lying, he is particularly known for acerbic commentary on the hypocrisy and apparent mendacity of contemporary politicians.[1][2][3]

Contents

[edit] Career

Oborne read history at Christ's College, Cambridge, taking a BA[4] degree in 1978.

He is the author of a highly-critical biography of Tony Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell and, in a different vein and contrast, a generous biography of the cricketer Basil D'Oliveira (for which he won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year in 2004) whose selection for England to tour South Africa in 1968 caused that country's apartheid regime to cancel the tour. He is also a vocal critic of the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe and author of a pamphlet, published by the Centre for Policy Studies about the situation in the country entitled A moral duty to act there.[5][6]

In April 2005 he presented the Channel 4 programme in the Election Unspun[7] series, Why Politicians Can't Tell The Truth,[8] examining how the major political parties in the UK allegedly pursue an agenda designed to appeal only to a narrow band of floating voters expected to be decisive in the UK General Elections of 2005. In May 2007 he presented a Dispatches programme on Channel 4 called Gordon Brown: Fit for Office?[9]

On Monday 20 June 2005 he wrote an article for London's Evening Standard with the title "Why the US is now our great enemy".[10] In this article he argues how, although he and his generation were brought up to love the US, today they are the greatest threat to world civilisation. Global warming is the hinge point he describes around which this ally has turned into 'the biggest threat'.

In April 2006, it was announced that Oborne was taking up a new position at the Daily Mail as a political columnist, while retaining his connection with The Spectator as a contributing editor. Fraser Nelson of The Scotsman replaced Oborne as the Spectator's political editor.

On Monday 7 July 2008, Oborne presented a Dispatches programme on Channel 4 called It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim.[11] In this film and the accompanying leaflet Muslims Under Siege[12] co-written with television journalist James Jones, it was argued that the demonisation of Muslims has become widespread in British media and politics. The pamphlet was serialised in the The Independent[13] and prompted heated debate in the following weeks.

In February 2009, Oborne renewed his attack on MPs for alleged abuses of the 'additional costs allowance' (ACA).[2][14][15][16]

Oborne's extensive contacts on the right of British politics mean he is now generally regarded as one of the foremost conservative commentators in the country. He is regularly lampooned in the satirical magazine Private Eye as 'Peter O'Bore'.[17]

In 2009 he also contributed to Charlie Brooker's Newswipe on BBC Four. Most of a segment, discussing cross-party collusion and corruption, had to be removed due to its potentially libellous nature. Peter Oborne was on the Orwell Prize's Journalism shortlist for 2009.[18]

Again in collaboration with James Jones, Oborne penned the pamphlet, [[THE PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY IN BRITAIN][http://www.redress.cc/cms-files/UK_Israel_lobby.pdf ]], which outlined the influence enjoyed by pro-Israeli lobbyists on media and politics in the United Kingdom. The article asserts that while the lobbying efforts of groups such as Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), Labour Friends of Israel, and the British Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) are not illegal, their funding is untraceable, their operations are not transparent, and media seldom declare the influence of junkets arranged by these pro-Israeli entities on the tenor of their writing. Oborne and Jones conclude that changes are needed "because politics in a democracy should never take place behind closed doors. It should be out in the open and there for all to see."

[edit] Postmodernism

Oborne has argued that much of late 20th/early 21st century disenchantment with politics is due to a postmodern design of political agendas and programmes with subsequent implementation that denies the existence of an 'independent reality'. That is, that there is something that is called truth.[19] Truth gives way to (mere) credibility.[20] Commensurate with the evaporation of truth is the condensation of narrative as a setting for events. This worldview is then put to use in legitimating claims of acting in 'good-faith' or within/according to 'The rules' (said 'rules,' of necessity, formulated, accidentally or otherwise, to admit more than one interpretation) when such actions are confronted by moral challenge.[21] He cites New Labour as now the 'front-wave' with the architects of this 'new reality' such as Peter Mandelson.[3][22] (Oborne's 4 March 2009 Keith Joseph Memorial Lecture at the Center for Policy Studies was built upon this theme[23]).

He has underlined, strongly, the 'capturing' of the 'independent' institutions of mainstream media (MSM) in the implementation.[24]

[edit] Works

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nick Cohen (website). Dishonourable members The Observer. 30 September 2007
  2. ^ a b Oborne, P. Anyone else would be sent to jail. The Daily Mail. 9 February 2009
  3. ^ a b Oborne, P. Speaking truth in power. The Guardian. 4 March 2009
  4. ^ A Cambridge BA automatically converts to an MA (Master of Arts) as long as certain conditions are satisfied
  5. ^ Oborne, P. A moral duty to act there. Hotlinkfiles
  6. ^ Oborne, P. Appendix 8: Memorandum from Mr Peter Oborne. Submission to the Select Committee on Foreign Affairs. March 2003
  7. ^ Channel 4 aims to 'unspin' the election. Digital Spy. 9 April 2005
  8. ^ Banks-Smith, N. Why Politicians Can't Tell The Truth, The Guardian, 26 April 2005
  9. ^ Gordon Brown:Fit for Office? Channel 4. 14 May 2007
  10. ^ Oborne, P. Why the US is now our great enemy. Evening Standard. 20 June 2005
  11. ^ Oborne, P. It Shouldn't Happen to a Muslim. Channel 4. 7 July 2008
  12. ^ Oborne, P., Jones, J. Muslims Under Siege
  13. ^ Oborne, P.The enemy within? Fear of Islam: Britain's new disease. 4 July 2008
  14. ^ Oborne, P. "MP's Pay and Conditions", The Triumph of the Political Class, Simon & Schuster, 2007, pp. 208-215.
  15. ^ Tapsfield, J., Woodcock, A. (Press Association) Watchdog could step in on McNulty expense claims. The Independent. 23 March 2009
  16. ^ UK Parliament - Explanatory note (ACA)
  17. ^ Silver, J. I had no idea what a news story was. The Guardian. 30 October 2006
  18. ^ Owen Amos "Shortlists announced for Orwell Prize for political writing", Press Gazette, 26 March 2009
  19. ^ Oborne, P. What's truth got to do with it? The Spectator. 30 April 2005
  20. ^ What does Postmodernism mean
  21. ^ Jenkins, S. These expenses scams violate the spirit of the law - and mps know it. Evening Standard. 7 April 2009
  22. ^ Booth, J. I was Mandy's first victim. Journalist, (NUJ) March/April 1999
  23. ^ Centre for Policy Studies: Keith Joseph Lecture. View and Listen
  24. ^ Oborne, P. Part III The Capturing of the Media. The Triumph of the Political Class. Simon & Schuster, 2007. pp. 233-293.

[edit] External links

 This article's external links may not follow Wikipedia's content policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links. (November 2009)
criticism
Preceded by
Tom Bower		 William Hill Sports Book of the Year winner
2004		 Succeeded by
Gary Imlach
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