Andrew Pierce

Andrew Pierce (born Patrick J Connolly[1] 1961) is a journalist, editor, author, broadcaster and political commentator.[1][4]

For other people named Andrew Pierce, see Andrew Pierce (disambiguation).

Andrew Pierce
Born
Patrick J Connolly[1]

1961 (age 59–60)[2]
Bristol, England[1]
EducationSt Joseph's Catholic School, Swindon
OccupationJournalist, editor, broadcaster
EmployerDaily Mail
Known forConsultant Editor, Daily Mail (Dec. 2009 – )
Fmr. Assistant Editor, The Daily Telegraph (Nov. 2006[3] – Dec. 2009)
Fmr. Assistant Editor, The Times
Fmr. Political Editor, The Times
journalist, features writer, author and broadcaster

Early life

Pierce was born in Bristol to a Roman Catholic Irish mother and an unknown father.[1] He spent the first two years of his life in Nazareth House, a Catholic orphanage in the spa town of Cheltenham,[1] and was adopted by a family from Swindon and brought up on a council estate there.[5] His adoptive father worked on the assembly line at British Leyland, a former state-owned car factory.[6]

Pierce was educated at St Joseph's Roman Catholic School,[7] now known as St Joseph's Catholic College, a state comprehensive school in Swindon. He did not go to university.[5]

Career in journalism

Pierce first became interested in right-wing politics as a first-time voter in 1979. He is a former Assistant Editor of both The Daily Telegraph and The Times newspapers,[8] and an ex-Political Editor of the latter. He is a columnist and Consultant Editor for the Daily Mail, which he joined in 2009.[9][10]

Pierce presented a Sunday morning political radio show on the commercial radio station LBC 97.3 from 2008 until he left in 2012.[11] That radio programme was in the latter years presented as a double-headed show with Kevin Maguire from the Daily Mirror. Pierce and Maguire continue their double act reviewing, previewing and dissecting the media and politics on the BBC, ITV and Sky News. He started presenting a Saturday Breakfast show on LBC Radio from 22 March 2014.

In 2014, the Daily Mail had to pay damages to Kirsten Farage after Pierce falsely claimed in a column that she had been a mistress of Nigel Farage, then the leader of UKIP, while he was still married to his first wife.[12] In May 2018, the Daily Mail paid £11,000 towards the legal costs of the writer Kate Maltby after the publication of an article by Pierce about the claims of sexual harassment Maltby made against the politician Damian Green. The article was removed from the Mail's website without the publication having made an admission of fault.[13]

His LBC show currently broadcasts on Friday evenings 6–9pm.

Personal life

Pierce was raised, and remains, a Roman Catholic.[1] He is openly gay, strongly supports civil partnerships, and lives in a long-term civil partnership, per the Civil Partnership Act 2004. He said it was therefore pointless to introduce gay marriage, and criticised Prime Minister David Cameron for treating it as a priority.[14]

In a BBC documentary in 2018 about Greg Owen and the court case National AIDS Trust v NHS Service Commissioning Board, Pierce strongly criticised the idea of taxpayer-funded PrEP, a preventative medication to protect against contracting HIV: "That's what this is about: indulging gay men who don't want to use a condom. Well that's outrageous. Why should the taxpayer subsidise a reckless sex life of people in the gay community?"[15]

Pierce's sister died on 14 November 2020.

Iris Prize

The Iris Prize Festival is a five-day public event in Cardiff, Wales, which includes screenings of the 30 short films competing for the Iris Prize. The Iris Prize is supported by the Michael Bishop Foundation and is the world's largest LGBT short film prize giving the winning filmmaker £30,000 to make their next short film in the UK. Iris produced shorts include Burger (2013) directed by Magnus Mork List of films at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, and Followers (2015) directed by Tim Marshall, both selected for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. Andrew Pierce became Patron of the Iris Prize in 2007, and in 2013 became its first Chair.

During his tenure as chair of the Iris Prize, Pierce has overseen a number of key developments in the festival. In 2014 at a launch reception Pierce announced a new strand at the Iris Prize Festival, Best British Short,[16] and helped secure a sponsorship deal with Pinewood Studios Group totalling £14,000 in post-production sound for the winning filmmaker.[17] In January 2015 it was also announced that the Iris Prize would be increasing from £25,000 to £30,000.[18]

Selected publications
  • Parris, Matthew; Prosser, David; Pierce, Andrew (1995), Great parliamentary scandals: four centuries of calumny, smear and innuendo, Robson Books, ISBN 978-0-86051-957-7

References
  1. Andrew Pierce (27 January 2007). "Speaking as an adopted gay Catholic . . ". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  2. Brook, Stephen (17 July 2006). "Andrew Pierce to join Daily Telegraph". The Guardian.
  3. "The top 50 newsmakers of 2006 – 48. ANDREW PIERCE". The Independent newspaper. 18 December 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  4. "More about Andrew Pierce". LBC. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  5. "Patrons – Andrew Pierce – Chair, Iris Prize". IrisPrize.org. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  6. Andrew Pierce (15 April 2008). "How Margaret Thatcher won me over". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  7. Compton Miller (27 June 2005). "Have you heard the latest? – The Times – Andrew Pierce". The Independent newspaper. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  8. Brook, Stephen (17 July 2006). "5pm: Andrew Pierce to join Daily Telegraph". The Observer.
  9. Plunkett, John (9 December 2009). "Andrew Pierce to join Daily Mail: Daily Telegraph columnist and assistant editor to leave after three years to take new wide-ranging role". The Observer.
  10. Lloyd, Peter (9 December 2009). "Openly-gay journalist Andrew Pierce to join Daily Mail". Pink Paper. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 December 2010.
  11. "Gay journalist gets his own radio show". Pink News. Retrieved 7 February 2008.
  12. Dominic Ponsford (12 May 2014). "Daily Mail pays damages and legal costs to Farage wife after saying she was previously his 'mistress'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  13. Elgot, Jessica (23 May 2018). "Daily Mail to pay Kate Maltby £11,000 costs over negative article". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  14. "The people who oppose the gay marriage law". BBC News Online. 26 March 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  15. The People vs The NHS: Who Gets the Drugs?. BBC Two. 27 June 2018.
  16. "Iris Prize will celebrate 'Best of British'". pictureville.net. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  17. "PINEWOOD STUDIOS REPRESENTED ON MAIN INTERNATIONAL JURY FOR IRIS PRIZE FESTIVAL 2014". pinewoodgroup.com. 31 March 2014. Archived from the original on 6 February 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  18. "Iris Prize, the award for LGBTI short films, increased to £30,000". gaystarnews.com. 12 January 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
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