Petronella Wyatt

Wyatt was born on 6 May 1968 in London, England.[2] Her parents were journalist and Labour politician Woodrow Wyatt and his fourth wife, Veronica "Verushka" Banszky von Ambroz (née Racz).[3][4][5][6]

Wyatt attended St Paul's Girls' School.[7] She then studied history at Worcester College, Oxford. She left the university within weeks of her first term, later claiming she had suffered persistent bullying and harassment, which Wyatt alleges were linked to her conservative political views.[8] She went on to study history at University College London.[8]

After graduating, Wyatt became a trainee journalist and later weekly columnist for the Sunday Telegraph in the early 1990s. She then worked for magazine The Spectator, where she was promoted to deputy editor.[5]

Wyatt is known for her direct and playful interview style. In 1996, when interviewing the proposed Labour Minister for Women Janet Anderson, Anderson joked that "under Labour, women will become more promiscuous", which Wyatt reported as policy.[9] Denis Healey regretted at the close of an interview with Wyatt that there was no time left for "rumpy pumpy".[3]

Between 2000 and 2004, Wyatt had an affair with the then editor of The Spectator and Conservative MP Boris Johnson.[10] Johnson had promised to leave his wife, and the affair had resulted in a miscarriage and a terminated pregnancy.[11] When her mother found out about the affair, she discussed it with the press.[5][10] Johnson was fired from his shadow cabinet post by party leader Michael Howard for lying about the affair, as he had initially categorically denied it.[10][12]

• Father, dear Father: Life with Woodrow Wyatt, Hutchinson, London, 1999. ISBN 0-09-929760-4
• Secrets of The Press, edited by Stephen Glover.
• The Third Plantagenet: George Duke of Clarence, John Ashdown Hill. The History Press, 2014. Contribution.