Andrew Pierce

Early life

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

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

Career in journalism

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

Pierce presented a Sunday morning political radio show on commercial radio station LBC 97.3 from 2008 until he left in 2012. 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 highly popular 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 a column by Pierce wrongly claimed she had been UKIP leader Nigel Farage's mistress while he was still married to his first wife.

Personal life

Pierce was raised, and remains, a Roman Catholic. He is openly gay, strongly supports civil partnerships, and lives in a long-term civil partnership, legalised by the Labour Government's Civil Partnership Act 2004. However, he was, and remains, opposed to same-sex marriage, legalised by the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. He explained his opposition to its introduction as the lack of public support for it, the creation of a possible schism between Church and State, and that there were no new rights accorded to it that did not already exist under Labour's 2004 civil partnership law. He also cited the views of several prominent gay people opposed to it, such as Labour MP Ben Bradshaw, and those unsure about it, such as historian Dr. David Starkey, and its absence from the election manifestos of the political parties that introduced it. He said it was therefore pointless to introduce it, and criticised Prime Minister David Cameron for treating it as a priority.

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, and helped secure a sponsorship deal with Pinewood Studios Group totalling £14,000 in post-production sound for the winning filmmaker. In January 2015 it was also announced that the Iris Prize would be increasing from £25,000 to £30,000.

Selected publications