Name Andrew Gilligan | Role Journalist | |
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Andrew gilligan bbc unbelievably badly managed
Andrew Paul Gilligan (born 22 November 1968) is a British journalist, currently senior correspondent of The Sunday Times and head of the Capital City Foundation at Policy Exchange. Between 2013 and 2016 he also worked as cycling commissioner for London. He is best known for a 2003 report on BBC Radio 4's The Today Programme in which he described a British government briefing paper on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction (the September Dossier) as 'sexed up'.
Contents
- Andrew gilligan bbc unbelievably badly managed
- Andrew gilligan ailing standards
- Early life and education
- Career
- Press TV controversy
- References
He was awarded Journalist of the Year in 2008 for his investigative reports on Ken Livingstone. and was shortlisted for the award again in 2015 for investigations which helped cause the downfall of the corrupt politician, Lutfur Rahman. He has also been a nominee for the Paul Foot Award, the Orwell Prize, the British Journalism Awards and Foreign Reporter of the Year at the British Press Awards.
Andrew gilligan ailing standards
Early life and education
Gilligan was born in Teddington, London, to catholic parents, Kevin and Ann. Kevin was formerly a councillor in Teddington and had graduated from UCL. Andrew was educated at Grey Court School, Kingston College of Further Education and at St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied history and was news editor of the student newspaper Varsity. He was also a member of Cambridge Universities Labour Club.
Career
In 1994, he joined the Cambridge Evening News, then in 1995 he moved to The Sunday Telegraph where he became a specialist reporter on defence. In 1999, he was recruited by the editor of BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Rod Liddle, as Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent. In May 2003, Gilligan made a broadcast in which he claimed that the British Government had "sexed up" a report in order to exaggerate the WMD capabilities of Saddam Hussein. Gilligan resigned from the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the Hutton Inquiry, after Lord Hutton questioned the reliability of Gilligan's evidence. Gilligan described the BBC collectively as the victim of a "grave injustice".
After resigning from the BBC in early 2004, Gilligan was offered a job at The Spectator by its editor, Boris Johnson, who had been a key supporter of Gilligan during the Hutton Inquiry. Later that year Gilligan joined the London Evening Standard. He was named Journalist of the Year at the British Press Awards in 2008 for his work on the London Mayoral elections, described as "relentless investigative journalism at its best".
In 2009 Gilligan became London editor of The Daily Telegraph and The Sunday Telegraph,. He was also a reporter for Channel 4's investigative programme Dispatches, covering a number of issues, including Rahman and his involvement with a hardline Islamic group in the London borough of Tower Hamlets. He has also been a cover presenter for LBC radio.
On 22 November 2011, Gilligan criticised the Leveson Inquiry in an appearance before the House of Lords communications committee.
In January 2013, Gilligan was appointed as the Cycling Commissioner for London by the Mayor, Boris Johnson. Accusations of "cronyism" were made following the appointment as Gilligan was considered instrumental in toppling the Mayor's main rival Ken Livingstone. He helped deliver London's first segregated cycle superhighways and was subsequently given an award by the London Cycling Campaign for his "outstanding contribution to cycling."
In May 2016, the Telegraph had to apologise and pay substantial damages for defamation due to false claims made by Gilligan in a series of articles. Gilligan's career with the Telegraph ended soon after. He joined the Sunday Times in August 2016.
Press TV controversy
Between 2007 and 2009 Gilligan presented a fortnightly programme for Press TV, the Iranian government's English-language TV channel. Rod Liddle challenged Gilligan in July 2009 about working for an "international propaganda channel run by the Iranian government". Gilligan stopped his regular show in December 2009, though he appeared twice more on the network just before the UK's May 2010 general election. Gilligan attributed his decision to leave to the politics of Iran "that was inconsistent with my opposition to Islamism. I have not worked for Press TV since."