Dan Hodges Explained

Dan Hodges
Birth Name:Daniel Pearce Jackson Hodges
Birth Date:1969 3, df=y
Birth Place:Lewisham, London, England
Occupation:Journalist
Party:Labour Party (1987–2013, 2015)
Mother:Glenda Jackson

Daniel Pearce Jackson Hodges (born 7 March 1969) is a British newspaper columnist. Since March 2016, he has written a weekly column for The Mail on Sunday. Prior to this, he was a columnist for The Daily Telegraph[1] and in 2013 was described by James Forsyth in The Spectator as David Cameron's "new favourite columnist".[2]

Early life

Born in Lewisham, Hodges is the son of the actress and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson and her then-husband Roy Hodges, a repertory company stage-manager and actor.[3] [4] [5] He was educated at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk, Lancashire, where he studied English Literature and Communications between 1987 and 1990.[6] [7] He worked as a parliamentary researcher for his mother between 1992 and 1997, describing it as 'straight-forward nepotism', before working in public relations for the Road Haulage Association, GMB and the Freedom To Fly lobby group.[8] He worked briefly as Head of Communications at the London Development Agency and as Director of News for Transport for London in 2007, which he left after less than a year after mocking a contractor to the press.[9] He subsequently led the campaign to introduce a congestion charge for Greater Manchester, which was overwhelmingly rejected in local referendums.[10] [11]

Journalism

Hodges has worked as a journalist and blogger, writing in a freelance capacity for the New Statesman, The Daily Telegraph and The Mail on Sunday. He worked for the successful No to AV campaign in 2011, but attracted controversy for a provocative anti-AV poster that suggested electoral reform might lead to the deaths of newborn babies.[12]

In 2016, Hodges won the Political Commentator of the Year Award at The Comment Awards.[13]

Labour Party

He supported Jon Cruddas in the 2007 deputy leadership election as a member of Compass, but has since been critical of the organisation.[14]

He supported David Miliband in his unsuccessful campaign for the 2010 Labour leadership contest. Hodges describes himself as a "tribal neo-Blairite".[15] He was a vocal critic of the former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.[16]

In May 2012, although he was then a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Hodges voted for the Conservative Boris Johnson in the London Mayoral elections, lauding him as a "unifying figure" over his former boss Ken Livingstone whom he saw as "divisive" and "a disgrace", adding that "London needs someone who can speak for all of London, not just the balkanized segments whose votes he craves". However, he still voted for Labour London Assembly candidates.[17]

Following the House of Commons vote on 29 August 2013 against possible military involvement in the Syrian civil war, and objecting to Ed Miliband's conduct, Hodges left the Labour Party.[18]

Hodges rejoined the Labour Party in July 2015 and supported Yvette Cooper for the Labour leadership, strongly opposing Jeremy Corbyn's candidacy.[19]

Hodges announced his resignation from the Labour Party a second time in a December 2015 op-ed for The Daily Telegraph accusing party members of abuse and intimidation against Labour MPs.[20]

Other views

Hodges has expressed support for the government censoring whistleblowers who are spreading "information highly detrimental to the UK national interest".[21]

Other work

Hodges is also a wargame designer. His first game design was Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic which is about the Falklands War.[22]

In November 2015, Hodges' first book, One Minute To Ten, was published by Penguin Books. It focuses on the three party leaders Cameron, Miliband, and Clegg, and the effect the 2015 general election had on their lives.[23]

Personal life

Hodges married Michelle di Leo in 2003, after meeting her at a Labour Party Conference in 1999.[24] In February 1992, he lost the sight of his left eye trying to stop a fight in a bar.[25] He lives in Blackheath with his wife and children.[26]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Dan Hodges. https://web.archive.org/web/20141204131855/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/dan-hodges/. dead. 2014-12-04. Telegraph.co.uk.
  2. Web site: The secret of David Cameron's Europe strategy: he doesn't have one. Forsyth. James. May 2013. The Spectator. 12 October 2014. 26 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150926080000/http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/8910471/camerons-bluff/. dead.
  3. Book: Bryant, Christopher . Glenda Jackson : the biography . 1999 . . 0-00-255911-0 . Hammersmith, London . 34–35 . 42790640 . Chris Bryant.
  4. Book: Woodward, Ian . Glenda Jackson : a study in fire and ice . 1985 . . 0-297-78533-8 . London . 27–28 . 11658097.
  5. News: Profile: Dan Hodges, Freedom To Fly. Ian Hall. 28 February 2003. PR Week. prweek.com. 4 November 2011.
  6. Web site: Glenda Jackson son: who is Dan Hodges as Oscar winning actress dies age 87 . MSN . 25 January 2024.
  7. Web site: twitter post. www.twitter.com. 19 January 2020.
  8. Web site: Profile: Dan Hodges, Freedom To Fly. Ian Hall. 28 February 2003. PR Week. prweek.com. 25 January 2018.
  9. Web site: TFL PR Chief leaves London Underground. Matt Cartmell. 14 December 2007. PR Week. prweek.com. 25 January 2018.
  10. Web site: 2010-04-18 . C-charge: The yes campaign . 2022-11-22 . Manchester Evening News . en.
  11. Web site: 2008-12-15 . Congestion charge - no! . 2022-11-22 . Local Government Chronicle (LGC) . en.
  12. News: Hasan. Mehdi. Dan Hodges. The Truth. And me. New Statesman. 20 October 2011. 16 February 2018.
  13. Web site: The Comment Awards 2016. www.commentawards.com. 11 March 2018. 30 November 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20161130002249/http://www.commentawards.com/winners.php. dead.
  14. Web site: Dan Hodges warns Labour against the new pluralism « Labour Uncut. labour-uncut.co.uk.
  15. http://www.chartwellspeakers.com/speaker/dan-hodges Dan Hodges: Keynote and motivational speaker
  16. News: Dan Hodges Announces He's Leaving The Labour Party, Is Lambasted For Quitting Over Jeremy Corbyn. Allegretti. Aubrey. 15 December 2015. HuffPost. 18 May 2018.
  17. News: Ken Livingstone is right: it's him or Boris Johnson. That's why I'm voting Boris . https://web.archive.org/web/20120501094352/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100154291/ken-livingstone-is-right-its-him-or-boris-johnson-thats-why-im-voting-boris/. dead. 1 May 2012. Dan Hodges . 30 April 2012 . The Daily Telegraph Blogs . The Daily Telegraph. 20 August 2013.
  18. Dan Hodges "Miliband was governed by narrow political interests – not those of Syrian children. I have left the Labour Party", telegraph.co.uk, 30 August 2013
  19. News: The only way Labour can win the next election is to elect Corbyn now. Hodges. Dan. 27 July 2015. 20 February 2019. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  20. News: Jeremy Corbyn has become the Left's Enoch Powell. Hodges. Dan. 15 December 2015. 20 February 2019. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  21. News: Why does being a relative of Glenn Greenwald place you above the law. https://web.archive.org/web/20130820093814/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100231711/why-does-being-a-relative-of-glenn-greenwald-place-you-above-the-law/. dead. 20 August 2013. Dan Hodges. 20 August 2013 . The Daily Telegraph Blogs . The Daily Telegraph. 20 August 2013.
  22. Web site: Confessions of a 'Grognard': why I am an unashamed board game geek. https://web.archive.org/web/20140111005815/http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danhodges/100253892/confessions-of-a-grognard-why-i-am-an-unashamed-board-game-geek/. dead. 11 January 2014. 10 January 2014.
  23. News: One Minute To Ten. Books . Penguin . 28 October 2015 . Penguin Books.
  24. Web site: Flying Matters. planestupid.com.
  25. Web site: Overview for Glenda Jackson. Turner Classic Movies.
  26. Web site: Ed Balls has just turned my house into a mansion. I'm not as happy about it as you might think . Hodges . Dan . 21 October 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141022004815/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/labour/11177527/Ed-Balls-has-just-turned-my-house-into-a-mansion.-Im-not-as-happy-about-it-as-you-might-think.html . 22 October 2014 . dead . 12 December 2014.

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