Mary Wakefield (journalist)

Wakefield is the daughter of the antique and architectural expert Sir Humphry Wakefield, 2nd Baronet and the Hon. Katherine Mary Alice, daughter of Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale, a colonial administrator in Africa.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003 p. 4027 She has two brothers; Maximilian Wakefield (born 1967), an entrepreneur and racing car driver,{{cite book |title=Wakefield, Sir (Edward) Humphry (Tyrrell) |work=Who's Who 2014 |publisher=A. & C. Black |date=2014 }}{{cite magazine |last=Coke |first=Hope |date=26 May 2020 |url=https://www.tatler.com/article/who-is-mary-wakefield-dominic-cummings-wife |title=Dominic Cummings's wife Mary Wakefield has aristocratic roots |magazine=Tatler |access-date=26 May 2021}} and Jack Wakefield (born 1977), former director of the Firtash Foundation and an art critic who writes for The Spectator and other publications.{{cite web|url=https://bylinetimes.com/2019/10/23/firtash-how-the-trump-impeachment-scandal-leads-back-to-british-brexiters/|title=Firtash: How the Trump Impeachment Scandal Leads back to British Brexiters|website=BylineTimes.com|last=Komarnyckyj|first=Stephen|date=23 October 2019|access-date=25 May 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/jack-wakefield |website=Spectator |title=Jack Wakefield |access-date=25 May 2020 }} A third brother, William Wakefield, was born in 1975 and died in infancy.

Wakefield was educated at the independent girls' boarding school Wycombe Abbey and at the University of Edinburgh (MA).Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 3, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003 p. 4027

Wakefield has worked at the weekly magazine The Spectator for twenty years{{when|date=February 2024}}, since Boris Johnson was editor, and was commissioning editor in 2017,{{cite news | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dominic-cummings-vote-leave-chief-invent-350-million-brexit-mistake-david-cameron-leave-eu-a7825601.html | title=Dominic Cummings: The Vote Leave chief who invented £350m claim before admitting Brexit was a mistake | newspaper=The Independent | author=Maya Oppenheim | date=5 July 2017 | access-date=9 August 2019}} assistant editor from 2001{{cite news |last1=Conlan |first1=Tara |title=Spectator rejigs team as Stuart Reid retires |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jan/31/pressandpublishing2 |access-date=30 April 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=31 January 2008}} and then deputy editor.{{cite web |last1=Patrick |title=Long-standing Spectator deputy editor Reid stands down |url=https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/long-standing-spectator-deputy-editor-reid-stands-down/ |website=Press Gazette |access-date=30 April 2020 |date=1 February 2008}} She also writes for the magazine as a columnist,{{cite news |title=Mary Wakefield |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/mary-wakefield |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=The Spectator}} and has written for The Sun, Daily Mail, The Telegraph and The Times.{{cite web |title=Mary Wakefield {{!}} The Spectator Journalist |url=https://muckrack.com/mary-wakefield |website=MuckRack |access-date=29 April 2020 }}

In 2015, following an online petition, Wakefield apologised and amended an article she had written for The Spectator in which she described an 18-year-old who had recently died in a moped crash as a "thuggish white lad".{{cite news | last1=O'Connor |first1=Mary | title=Journalist apologises after 'disgusting' knife crime piece | url=https://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/crime/21237574.journalist-apologises-disgusting-knife-crime-piece/ |access-date=20 August 2023 | work=The Islington Gazette | date=13 August 2015}}

In December 2011, Wakefield married Dominic Cummings, a friend of her brother Jack Wakefield.{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/0bf8a910-372e-11ea-a6d3-9a26f8c3cba4|title=Dominic Cummings has 'done' Brexit. Now he plans to reinvent politics|newspaper=Financial Times|date=15 January 2020|url-access=subscription|access-date=12 April 2020}} In 2016, they had a son,Rabbett, Abigail; Morley, Nicole (8 January 2019). [https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/who-dominic-cummings-durham-man-15643998 "Who is Dominic Cummings? The Durham man behind Brexit played by Benedict Cumberbatch in Channel 4 show"]. Evening Chronicle.Wakefield, Mary (10 August 2019). [https://www.spectator.co.uk/2019/08/the-reason-middle-class-parents-are-so-anxious "The reason middle-class parents are so anxious"]. The Spectator. (Alexander) Cedd, named after an Anglo-Saxon saint.{{cite web | url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/like-so-many-parents-i-m-a-panic-junkie | title=Like so many parents, I'm a panic junkie | the Spectator | date=8 August 2019 }}

She is a convert to Catholicism,{{Cite episode |title=25/04/2020 |series=Today |series-link=Today (BBC Radio 4) |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000hmyy |access-date=29 April 2020 |station=BBC Radio 4 |date=25 April 2020 }} (starts at 1h 48min) having been raised in the Anglican tradition.{{cite news |last1=Mary |first1=Wakefield |title=Why I changed my mind about Catholicism |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/why-i-changed-my-mind-about-catholicism |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=www.spectator.co.uk |date=21 December 2019}}{{Cite web|date=2011-10-23|title=Mary Wakefield: Ignore the sceptics who are blocking the road to Rome|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/mary-wakefield-ignore-the-sceptics-who-are-blocking-the-road-to-rome-1808400.html|access-date=2021-07-12|website=The Independent|language=en}} Wakefield was portrayed by Liz White in the 2019 Channel 4 drama Brexit: The Uncivil War.{{cite web|url=https://www.ft.com/content/49f2b912-0f67-11e9-acdc-4d9976f1533b|title=Vote Leave's Matthew Elliott on Channel 4's Brexit: The Uncivil War|newspaper=Financial Times|author=Matthew Elliott|author-link=Matthew Elliott (political strategist)|date=4 January 2019|quote=Screenwriter James Graham has turned the campaign into a compelling story – and nailed my mannerisms}}

On 25 April 2020, Wakefield wrote an article for The Spectator{{cite news |last1=Wakefield |first1=Mary |title=Getting coronavirus does not bring clarity |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/getting-coronavirus-does-not-bring-clarity |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=The Spectator |issue=25 April 2020}} about her experience when both she and Cummings contracted COVID-19.{{cite news |last1=Grant |first1=Katie |title=Dominic Cummings collapsed and spent 10 days in bed after getting coronavirus |url=https://inews.co.uk/news/dominic-cummings-boris-johnson-coronavirus-covid-19-collapsed-2548340 |date=24 April 2020 |access-date=29 April 2020 |work=inews.co.uk }} On 22 May it was reported that Wakefield and Cummings had driven over 260 miles (c. 420 km) each way between London and Durham in late March to stay in a cottage at her father-in-law's farm,{{cite news |last1=Stubley |first1=Peter|title=Dominic Cummings: Timeline of alleged lockdown breaches |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/dominic-cummings-latest-news-lockdown-timeline-when-travel-durham-a9530116.html |work=The Independent |access-date=27 May 2020}} while both, reportedly, were exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms,{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-52780561 |title=Calls for Cummings to resign after lockdown travel |date=23 May 2020 |work=BBC News}} although Cummings states that his symptoms appeared the day after the journey was made.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-52795624/dominic-cummings-full-statement-on-lockdown-row |title=Dominic Cummings: Full statement on lockdown row |date=25 May 2020 |work=BBC News}}

An eyewitness saw Wakefield on 12 April walking in Barnard Castle in the company of Cummings and their son,{{cite news |last1=Weaver & Dodd |title=Dominic Cummings facing possible police investigation as pressure mounts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/24/witness-complains-to-police-about-dominic-cummings-as-pressure-mounts |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=24 May 2020}} after a complaint to the Durham Constabulary by another witness who claimed to have seen Cummings with a group of people in the same town.{{cite news |last1=Parveen & Weaver |title=Barnard Castle witness calls for Cummings to quit after hearing defence |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/25/second-witness-asks-police-investigate-dominic-cummings |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=25 May 2020}} Cummings admitted that he made the 52-mile round trip with his wife and child to see whether he could drive safely, saying, "My wife was very worried, particularly given my eyesight seemed to have been affected by the disease. She did not want to risk a nearly 300-mile drive with our child [back to London], given how ill I had been."{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/52828076 |title=Dominic Cummings: Fact-checking the row |date=30 May 2020 |work=BBC News}}

Following an investigation into these reports, Durham Constabulary stated that, whereas the trip to Barnard Castle might have been a minor breach of the lockdown regulations, the trip to Durham itself was not. Durham Constabulary stated they would take no further action in the matter.{{cite web|url=https://www.durham.police.uk/news-and-events/Pages/News%20Articles/Durham-Constabulary-press-statement--.aspx |url-status=dead |title=Durham Constabulary press statement |date=28 May 2020 |publisher=Durham Constabulary |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119222610/https://www.durham.police.uk/news-and-events/Pages/News%20Articles/Durham-Constabulary-press-statement--.aspx |archive-date=19 January 2021}} Alleged inconsistencies between Cummings's account and his wife's were discussed in the press,{{cite news |last1=Bland |first1=Archie |title=Inconsistencies between Cummings' lockdown story and his wife's |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/26/inconsistencies-between-cummings-lockdown-story-and-his-wifes |access-date=27 May 2020 |work=The Guardian |date=26 May 2020}} and reported to the Independent Press Standards Organisation, the magazine's regulator.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/may/28/quarantine-article-by-dominic-cummings-wife-reported-to-regulator |title=Quarantine article by Dominic Cummings' wife reported to regulator |last=Waterson |first=Jim |newspaper=The Guardian |date=28 May 2020 |access-date=28 May 2020}} IPSO decided not to investigate.[https://www.theneweuropean.co.uk/brexit-news-ipso-ruling-on-mary-wakefield-spectator-article-81922/ The New European website, Press watchdog will not investigate ‘misleading’ Spectator account of lockdown by Dominic Cummings’ wife, article by Jonathon Read dated 9 June 2020]

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Category:Living people

Category:1975 births

Category:People educated at Wycombe Abbey

Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Category:20th-century British journalists

Category:21st-century British journalists

Category:21st-century British women journalists

Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism

Category:British columnists

Category:Daughters of baronets

Mary