Isabel Oakeshott

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Isabel Oakeshott

| honorific_suffix =

| image =

| caption = Oakeshott in 2016

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|df=yes|1974|06|12}}

| birth_place =

| education = Gordonstoun

| alma_mater = University of Bristol

| occupation = Political journalist

| spouse =

| partner = Richard Tice

| children = 3

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Isabel Oakeshott (born 12 June 1974) is a British political journalist.

Oakeshott was the political editor of The Sunday Times and is the co-author, with Michael Ashcroft, of an unauthorised biography of former British prime minister David Cameron, Call Me Dave, and of various other non-fiction titles, including White Flag? An Examination of the UK's Defence Capability, also written with Ashcroft, Farmageddon, co-written with Philip Lymbery, and Pandemic Diaries, co-written with Matt Hancock, which provides an account of Hancock's tenure as the UK's Health Secretary during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Early life

Oakeshott was educated at St George's School, Edinburgh, and then at Gordonstoun School in Moray, Scotland.{{Cite news |date=14 September 2014 |title=Moray students have their say on Scottish independence |url= https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/moray/343465/moray-students-have-their-say-on-independence |work=The Press and Journal |location= Aberdeen}} In 1996, she graduated with a BA in history from the University of Bristol.{{Cite web |title=Isabel Oakeshott (BA 1996) |url= http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-stories/prominent-alumni/journalism/isabel-oakeshott-ba-1996 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150926000155/http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alumni/alumni-stories/prominent-alumni/journalism/isabel-oakeshott-ba-1996/ |archive-date=26 September 2015 |access-date=21 September 2015 |website=Alumni and friends |publisher=Bristol University}}

Journalism career

Oakeshott is regarded as a right-wing journalist.{{cite news |last=Shipton |first=Martin |date=7 July 2018 |title=Controversial Ukip funder and Brexit supporter Arron Banks was Cardiff's Honorary Consul from Belize |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/controversial-ukip-funder-brexit-supporter-14877587 |work= WalesOnline |access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite news |last=Dudcock |first=Barry |date=5 March 2023 |title=A tawdry start, but a lockdown reckoning is overdue |url=https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/referendumnews/23362552.tawdry-start-lockdown-reckoning-overdue/ |work=The Herald |access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite news |last=Mathers |first=Matt |date=1 March 2023 |title=Who is Isabel Oakeshott? The controversial reporter Matt Hancock trusted with 100,000 Whatsapp messages |url=https://www.aol.co.uk/news/isabel-oakeshott-controversial-reporter-matt-115010343.html?guccounter=1 |via=AOL |work=The Independent |access-date=17 December 2023}}{{cite news |last=Evans |first=Albert |date=5 October 2018 |title='Don't you start!' Emily Thornberry lets rip at right-wing commentator during Question Time debate on austerity |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/question-time-emily-thornberry-isabel-oakeshott-austerity-debate-205580 |work=i News |access-date=17 December 2023}}

Oakeshott began her career in journalism in Scotland, working for the East Lothian Courier, Edinburgh Evening News, Daily Record, Sunday Mirror and Daily Mail, before returning to London and joining the Evening Standard as the Health correspondent.{{Cite web |date=14 April 2016 |title=Isabel Oakeshott, Political Editor-at-Large, Daily Mail |url=http://www.mediafocus.org.uk/media/Media-Focus-Isabel-Oakeshott-Podcast-Transcript.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826025906/http://www.mediafocus.org.uk/media/Media-Focus-Isabel-Oakeshott-Podcast-Transcript.pdf |archive-date=26 August 2017 |access-date=1 June 2017 |website=Media Masters}} After three years, she moved to The Sunday Times in 2006 as deputy political editor,{{Cite web |date=15 December 2005 |title=Axe grinder 15.12.05 |url=http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/axe-grinder-151205 |access-date=25 October 2022 |website=Press Gazette}} becoming political editor in 2010, and remained until 2014.{{Cite news |date=17 January 2014 |title=Sunday Times hires new political editor |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jan/17/sunday-times-political-editor-daily-mail-tim-shipman}} She was awarded the title Political Journalist of the Year at the 2011 The Press Awards.{{Cite web |date=2011 |title=Winners List |url=http://www.pressawards.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=Winners-2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170508034518/http://www.pressawards.org.uk/page-view.php?pagename=Winners-2011 |archive-date=8 May 2017 |access-date=8 October 2015 |website=The Press Awards}}

In 2013, while at The Sunday Times, she persuaded Vicky Pryce to implicate Pryce's estranged husband, former Liberal Democrat MP and Cabinet minister Chris Huhne, in having committed the offence of perverting the course of justice, leading to the case R v Huhne, and to both Pryce and Huhne being convicted and imprisoned.{{Cite web |date=10 March 2013 |title=Isabel Oakeshott: Vicky Pryce double-crossed me |url=http://www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2013/03/isabel-oakeshott-vicky-pryce-double-crossed-me |website=New Statesman}}{{cite news|url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/publishers/nationals/sunday-times-journalist-isabel-oakeshott-says-she-fulfilled-her-moral-obligation-vicky-pryce/|work=Press Gazette|title=Sunday Times journalist Isabel Oakeshott says she fulfilled her moral obligation to Vicky Pryce|date=11 March 2013|last=Ponsford|first=Dominic}}

Oakeshott has appeared as a panelist on the BBC's Daily Politics,{{Cite news |date=6 January 2014 |title=Daily Politics and Sunday Politics highlights of 2014 |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-25623513}} as well as on BBC TV's Question Time,{{Cite news |date=5 February 2016 |title=Nigel Farage blames traffic jam for BBC Question Time no-show |work=Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-blames-traffic-jam-for-bbc-question-time-no-show-a6854846.html}} and has been a contributor to Sky News' Press Preview programme.{{Cite web |date=16 March 2016 |title=Front Pages |url=http://news.sky.com/story/thursdays-national-newspaper-front-pages-10207740 |website=Sky News}}{{Cite web |date=24 May 2017 |title=Thursday's national newspaper front pages |url=http://news.sky.com/story/thursdays-national-newspaper-front-pages-10891899 |website=Sky News}}

Between February 2016 and early 2017, Oakeshott was the Daily Mail{{'}}s political editor-at-large.{{Cite news |date=26 January 2017 |title=Remainers are 'changing mind' about Brexit despite hit to ad industry |work=Campaign |url=http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/remainers-changing-mind-brexit-despite-hit-ad-industry/1422218}}{{Cite web |date=26 January 2017 |title=Isabel Oakeshott exits the Mail |url=https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/01/isabel-oakeshott-exits-mail |access-date=15 June 2017 |website=The Spectator |archive-date=30 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170130023053/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/01/isabel-oakeshott-exits-mail/ |url-status=dead}} In 2019, she wrote a series of articles for The Mail on Sunday based on leaked diplomatic memos written by the British Ambassador to the United States Sir Kim Darroch, in which he criticised the Trump administration.{{Cite news |last1=Mason |first1=Rowena |last2=Walker |first2=Peter |date=8 July 2019 |title=Theresa May has 'full faith' in Kim Darroch but rejects his view of Trump |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/08/pm-has-full-faith-in-kim-darroch-but-rejects-his-view-of-trump |access-date=14 July 2019}} The leak led to his resignation.{{Cite news |date=10 July 2019 |title=Sir Kim Darroch resigns: Letter in full |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48939821 |access-date=14 July 2019}}

In July 2019, The Guardian amended an article by its parliamentary sketch writer John Crace which contained a sentence that had potentially implied that Oakeshott obtained the Darroch emails by sleeping with Nigel Farage or Arron Banks. At the time, she called the comment "demonstrably false and extraordinarily sexist". The newspaper later published an apology.{{Cite web |last=Mayhew |first=Freddy |date=22 July 2019 |title=Guardian apologises to Isabel Oakeshott over 'fictitious' comment in cables leak sketch |url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/guardian-aplogises-to-isabel-oakeshott-over-fictitious-comment-in-satirical-sketch-on-cables-leak/ |publisher=Press Gazette}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jul/19/corrections-and-clarifications|title=Corrections and clarifications|date=19 July 2019|access-date=4 March 2023|work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |last=Crace |first=John |date=8 July 2019 |title=Ambassador's trashing of Trump gives MPs chance to enjoy a bit of deploring |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/08/ambassadors-trashing-of-trump-gives-mps-chance-to-enjoy-a-bit-of-deploring}}

In September 2021, GB News announced that Oakeshott would be hosting a weekly show on the channel.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/gb-news-andrew-neil-return-september-row-b953592.html|work=Evening Standard|title=GB News' Andrew Neil will 'not return to TV channel next week'|date=3 September 2021|last=Waddell|first=Lily}} She left to join TalkTV as its International Editor in April 2022. She earns a £250,000 salary for the role.{{cite web|url=https://www.news.co.uk/latest-news/isabel-oakeshott-returns-to-news-uk-for-talktv/|title=Isabel Oakeshott Returns To News UK for TalkTV|publisher=News UK|date=8 April 2022}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/mar/04/isabel-oakeshott-hangs-up-on-times-radio-during-heated-interview|work=The Guardian|title=Isabel Oakeshott hangs up on Times Radio during heated interview|date=4 March 2023|last=Thomas|first=Tobi}} Her prominence in these roles led to the New Statesman naming her as the 32nd most influential right-wing political figure in the UK.{{Cite web |last=Statesman |first=New |date=27 September 2023 |title=The New Statesman's right power list |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-politics/2023/09/the-new-statesmans-right-power-list |access-date=14 December 2023 |website=New Statesman |location= London}}

Writing career

Oakeshott has written a number of non-fiction books. Inside Out, co-written with, or ghostwritten for, Labour Party insider Peter Watt, is an inside look at New Labour.{{Cite news |date=13 February 2010 |title=Inside Out by Peter Watt, with Isabel Oakeshott |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/13/inside-out-peter-watt-review}} Farmageddon: the true cost of cheap meat, co-written with Philip Lymbery, addresses the effects of industrial-scale meat production.{{Cite news |date=10 February 2014 |title=Farmageddon by Philip Lymbery with Isabel Oakeshott, review |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/10620308/Farmageddon-by-Philip-Lymbery-with-Isabel-Oakeshott-review.html}}

Call Me Dave, co-written with Michael Ashcroft, is an unauthorised biography of former British prime minister David Cameron.{{Cite news |date=20 February 2018 |title=Journalist sparks disabled parking row |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-43128494}} One of the details in the book – that Cameron, during his university days, allegedly performed a sex act involving a dead pig – caused controversy upon publication. The unsubstantiated story was dependent on hearsay,{{Cite news |date=15 October 2015 |title=Call Me Dave by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott, review: 'winks and rumours' |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/call-me-dave-ashcroft-oakeshott-review/ |access-date=21 May 2018}} and Oakeshott subsequently conceded her source could have been "deranged".{{Cite news |date=9 October 2015 |title=Call Me Dave author Isabel Oakshott reveals 'Piggate' claims could be false |work=The Huffington Post |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/09/isabel-oakeshott-piggate-david-cameron-claims-deranged_n_8269558.html |access-date=21 May 2018}}

In 2018, she co-authored with Ashcroft a book on the state of the British Armed Forces, White Flag?.{{Cite news |last=Marozzi |first=Justin |date=7 October 2018 |title= Review: White Flag? An Examination of the UK's Defence Capability by Michael Ashcroft and Isabel Oakeshott — a sit-up-and-listen investigation |work=The Sunday Times |location= London |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/defence/article/review-white-flag-an-examination-of-the-uks-defence-capability-by-michael-ashcroft-and-isabel-oakeshott-a-sit-up-and-listen-investigation-9htlr90xr}}

The Bad Boys of Brexit is an inside account of the Leave.EU campaign during the run-up to the Brexit referendum, which she had ghostwritten for UKIP donor and Leave.EU funder Arron Banks.{{Cite news |date=21 November 2016 |title=The bluster and blunder that birthed a new political era |url= http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/11/bluster-and-blunder-birthed-new-political-era |work=New Statesman |location= London}} Oakeshott is a supporter of Brexit.{{Cite news |date=25 March 2018 |title=Journalists clash over Vote Leave spending story |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43534352/journalists-clash-over-vote-leave-spending-story}} She was in possession of details about Russia's cultivation and handling of Banks, that he was in regular contact with Russian officials from 2015 to 2017, but publicly downplayed Russian involvement with him.{{Cite news |last=Hines |first=Nico |date=10 June 2018 |title=How a Journalist Kept Russia's Secret Links to Brexit Under Wraps |work=The Daily Beast |url= https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-journalist-kept-russias-secret-links-to-brexit-under-wraps |access-date=2 July 2018}}{{Cite news |last=Waterson |first=Jim |date=11 June 2018 |title=Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit |work=The Guardian |location= London |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/11/profile-isabel-oakeshott-and-the-bad-boys-of-brexit |access-date=2 July 2018}}

Oakeshott helped former Health Secretary Matt Hancock write his book, Pandemic Diaries, The Inside Story Of Britain's Battle Against Covid.{{Cite news |date=7 December 2022 |title=What Matt Hancock should have written in his Pandemic Diaries |first=Tom |last=Peck |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/matt-hancock-pandemic-diaries-im-a-celeb-b2240794.html |access-date=1 March 2023 |work=Independent |location= London }}

Oakeshott then passed more than 100,000 of Hancock's WhatsApp messages to The Daily Telegraph, who began to publish them in February 2023 in a series called the Lockdown Files.{{Cite news |work=The Telegraph |location= London |date=28 February 2023 |title=The Lockdown Files: How WhatsApp messages offer an unprecedented view of government failings |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/02/28/lockdown-files-whatsapp-messages-government-covid-response/ |access-date=7 March 2023 }} She had been given the messages for the purpose of using them to help write Hancock's book and she was subject to a contractual confidentiality restriction.{{Cite news |last=Waterson |first=Jim |date=1 March 2023 |title=Isabel Oakeshott: the journalist who turned over Matt Hancock |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/01/isabel-oakeshott-the-journalist-who-turned-over-matt-hancock |access-date=1 March 2023}} The files revealed details of the health and public-order decision-making during the COVID-19 lockdown, and various political figures and civil servants including Hancock himself, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the UK's most senior civil servant, the Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak.{{Cite news |date=4 March 2023 |title=The Lockdown Files: 10 things we've learned so far |work=The Telegraph |location= London |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/04/matt-hancock-lockdown-files-covid-10-things-learnt/ |access-date=7 March 2023 }}

Oakeshott said that leaking the messages was in the public interest.{{Cite news |title=Isabel Oakeshott reveals why she leaked Matt Hancock's WhatsApp messages |work=BBC News |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-64822872 |date=2 March 2023 |access-date=3 March 2023}} Oakeshott said Hancock sent a "threatening" message alleging she had made a "big mistake" and added "He's since followed through with threats of legal action."{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/itv-matt-hancock-whatsapp-isabel-oakeshott-b2293535.html |title=Matt Hancock has threatened me with legal action, says Isabel Oakeshott |work=Independent |location= London |date=3 March 2023 |first=Holly |last=Patrick }} Oakeshott herself has been described as "a journalist who has long made clear her disdain for his lockdown policies" and as an "anti-lockdown campaigner".{{cite news |last=Waterson |first=Jim |date=1 March 2023 |title=Isabel Oakeshott: the journalist who turned over Matt Hancock |url= https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/01/isabel-oakeshott-the-journalist-who-turned-over-matt-hancock |work=The Guardian |location= London |access-date=15 September 2023}}{{cite news |last=Razzall |first=Katie |date=2 March 2023 |title=Matt Hancock and Isabel Oakeshott: A tale of scoops, betrayal and WhatsApp |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64825476 |work=BBC News |access-date=15 September 2023}}

Personal life

Oakeshott married Nigel Rosser and has three children.{{Cite news |date=18 June 2018 |title=The Londoner: Thatcher portrait left without home |work=London Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/the-londoner-thatcher-portrait-left-without-home-a3865476.html}}{{Cite web |title=Isabel Oakeshott |url=http://www.isabeloakeshott.com/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213720/http://www.isabeloakeshott.com/ |archive-date=23 September 2015 |access-date=23 September 2015 |website=Isabel Oakeshott}} In 2018, she began a relationship with businessman and former Reform UK party leader Richard Tice.{{Cite news |last1=Gilligan |first1=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Gilligan |last2=Shipman |first2=Tim |author-link2=Tim Shipman |date=14 July 2019 |title=Trump leak scandal engulfs Brexit Party |work=The Sunday Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/trump-leak-scandal-engulfs-brexit-party-2w7dn3hrm |access-date=3 March 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://news.sky.com/story/who-is-isabel-oakeshott-the-journalist-behind-the-matt-hancock-leak-whose-work-landed-an-mp-in-prison-and-made-an-ambassador-resign-12823424|title=Who is Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who broke an NDA to leak Matt Hancock's WhatsApps?|date=3 March 2023|work=Sky News}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, neither Oakeshott nor Tice denied their attendance at a garden barbecue (allegedly against the regulations at the time). Instead, they made reference to testing their eyesight – an apparent signal to an earlier Dominic Cummings scandal.{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Simon |last2=Walker |first2=Peter |date=5 June 2020 |title=Tory MP attended lockdown barbecue with journalists |url= https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/05/tory-mp-bob-seely-attended-lockdown-barbecue-with-journalists |access-date=24 February 2024 |work=The Guardian |location= London}}

In January 2025 Oakeshott confirmed she had moved to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates with her children several months earlier to avoid the Labour government's new taxes on school fees.https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/01/25/how-i-became-a-labour-school-fee-exile-in-dubai/ Richard Tice, her partner, confirmed he was splitting time between Dubai and Skegness.{{cite news |last= Helm |first= Toby |date= 18 January 2025 |title= Reform deputy leader Richard Tice splitting time between Skegness and Dubai after partner leaves UK |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/18/reform-deputy-leader-richard-tice-splitting-time-between-skegness-and-dubai-after-partner-leaves-uk |work= The Guardian |access-date= 24 January 2025}}

Oakeshott is a supporter of Brexit, and has close links to the Conservative Party donor Michael Ashcroft.{{cite news |last=Waterson |first=Jim |date=11 June 2018 |title=Profile: Isabel Oakeshott and The Bad Boys of Brexit |url= https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jun/11/profile-isabel-oakeshott-and-the-bad-boys-of-brexit |work=The Guardian |access-date=15 September 2023}}

Bibliography

{{Cite book |last=Watt |first=Peter |title=Inside Out: My Story of Betrayal and Cowardice at the Heart of New Labour |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-18-4954-038-4 |ref=none |author-link=Peter Watt}}
{{Cite book |last1=Lymbery |first1=Philip |title=Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat |last2=Oakeshott |first2=Isabel |publisher=Bloomsbury |year=2014 |isbn=978-14-0884-644-5 |ref=none |author-link=Philip Lymbery}}
{{Cite book |last1=Ashcroft |first1=Michael |title=Call Me Dave |last2=Oakeshott |first2=Isabel |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2015 |isbn=978-18-4954-914-1 |ref=none |author-link=Michael Ashcroft}}
Ghostwriter of {{Cite book |last=Banks |first=Arron |title=The Bad Boys of Brexit |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2016 |isbn=978-17-8590-182-9 |ref=none |author-link=Arron Banks}}
{{Cite book |last1=Ashcroft |first1=Michael |title=White Flag? an examination of the UK's defence capability |last2=Oakeshott |first2=Isabel |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2018 |isbn=978-17-8590-410-3 |ref=none |author-link=Michael Ashcroft}}
{{Cite book |last1=Ashcroft |first1=Michael |title=Life Support: The state of the NHS in an age of pandemics |last2=Oakeshott |first2=Isabel |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=978-17-8590-625-1 |ref=none |author-link=Michael Ashcroft}}
{{Cite book |last1=Hancock |first1=Matt |title=Pandemic Diaries: The inside story of Britain's battle against Covid |last2=Oakeshott |first2=Isabel |publisher=Biteback Publishing |year=2022 |isbn=978-17-8590-774-6 |ref=none |author-link=Matt Hancock}}