Andrew Gilligan
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Andrew Paul Gilligan (born 22 November 1968) is a British policy adviser and ex-journalist. He served as a special adviser to
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...
, having previously worked as a transport adviser to
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
both as
Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current ...
and as Prime Minister. He is now senior fellow and head of transport, infrastructure and London at the think-tank Policy Exchange. Until July 2019, Gilligan was senior correspondent of ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' and had also served as head of the Capital City Foundation at Policy Exchange. Between 2013 and 2016 he also worked as the Mayor's cycling commissioner for London, and in 2020 he was an appointee of Central Government to TfL's Board. He is best known for a 2003 report on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''Today'' programme in which he described a British government briefing paper on
Iraq and weapons of mass destruction Iraq actively researched weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and used chemical weapons from 1962 to 1991, after which it destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile and halted its biological and nuclear weapon programs as required by the United Nation ...
(the September Dossier) as having been "transformed in the week before it was published to make it sexier". This change became widely known, in the words of newspaper headlines about the story, as being "sexed up". He was awarded Journalist of the Year in 2008 for his investigative reports on
Ken Livingstone Kenneth Robert Livingstone (born 17 June 1945) is an English former politician who served as the Leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) from 1981 until the council was Local Government Act 1985, abolished in 1986, and as Mayor of Londo ...
and was shortlisted for the award again in 2015 for investigations which helped cause the downfall of politician Lutfur Rahman. He has also been a nominee for the Paul Foot Award, the
Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a board of trustees. Four prizes are award ...
, the British Journalism Awards and Foreign Reporter of the Year at the
British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named Ha ...
.


Early life and education

Gilligan was born in
Teddington Teddington is an affluent suburb of London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Historically an Civil parish#ancient parishes, ancient parish in the county of Middlesex and situated close to the border with Surrey, the district became ...
, London, to Catholic parents, Kevin and Ann. Kevin was formerly a Labour Party councillor in Teddington and had graduated from
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
. Andrew was educated at Grey Court School, Kingston College of Further Education and at
St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...
, 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 moved to ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'', 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 Rod Liddle (born 1 April 1960) is an English journalist, and an associate editor of ''The Spectator''. He was an editor of BBC Radio 4's '' Today'' programme. His published works include ''Too Beautiful for You'' (2003), ''Love Will Destroy Ev ...
, 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
weapon of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a biological, chemical, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natural structures ( ...
capabilities of
Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until Saddam Hussein statue destruction, his overthrow in 2003 during the 2003 invasion of Ira ...
. Gilligan resigned from the BBC in 2004, in the wake of the
Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Brian Hutton, Baron Hutton, Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour Party (UK), Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dav ...
surrounding the death of David Kelly, after Lord Hutton questioned the reliability of Gilligan's evidence. After resigning from the BBC, Gilligan was offered a job at ''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British political and cultural news magazine. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving magazine in the world. ''The Spectator'' is politically conservative, and its principal subject a ...
'' by its editor,
Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...
, who had been a key supporter of Gilligan during the Hutton Inquiry. Later that year, Gilligan joined the ''
London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
''. He was named Journalist of the Year at the
British Press Awards The Press Awards, formerly the British Press Awards, is an annual ceremony that celebrates the best of British journalism. History Established in 1962 by ''The People'' and '' World's Press News'', the first award ceremony for the then-named Ha ...
in 2008 for his work on the London Mayoral elections, described as "relentless investigative journalism at its best". 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 Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...
. I have not worked for Press TV since." In 2009, Gilligan became London editor of ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' and ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
''. He was also a reporter for
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
's investigative programme '' Dispatches'', covering a number of issues, including Rahman and his claimed involvement with the Islamic Forum of Europe in the
London borough of Tower Hamlets The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London boroughs, borough in London, England. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames and immediately east of the City of London, the borough spans much of the traditional East End of London and ...
. 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 The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...
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 August 2016, Gilligan was part of a wave of redundancies at ''The Daily Telegraph''; he joined ''The Sunday Times'' immediately afterwards. In 2019, he was appointed transport adviser by the then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, based in the Downing Street policy unit. In July 2020,
Grant Shapps Sir Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps previously served in various Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet posts, including Chairman of ...
, Transport Secretary, appointed Gilligan to TfL's Board as one of two Special Representative attendees. Gilligan was appointed as a special adviser to Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak Rishi Sunak (born 12 May 1980) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2022 to 2024. Following his defeat to Keir Starmer's La ...
in March 2023. He was reportedly instrumental in persuading Sunak to abandon the proposed northern leg of the
High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway which has been under construction in England since 2019. The line's planned route is between Handsacre – in southern Staffordshire – and London, with a Spur line, branch to Birmingham. HS2 is to ...
railway infrastructure project. In July 2024, he rejoined Policy Exchange as head of transport, infrastructure and London.


Controversy

In May 2016, ''The Telegraph'' apologised and paid substantial damages as part of an out-of-court settlement for defamation due to false claims made by Gilligan in a series of articles alleging corruption surrounding the purchase of Poplar Town Hall by businessman Mujibul Islam from Tower Hamlets Council when Rahman was mayor. In May 2018, ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'' paid "substantial damages" to settle a defamation case brought against it by Mohammed Kozbar in relation to an article by Gilligan in March 2016. Gilligan had accused Kozbar of supporting Palestinian violence against Israel's occupation. Gilligan tweeted that he stood by what he wrote. In January 2019, ''
The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...
'' was required to publish a correction by the Independent Press Standards Organisation, which ruled that an article in July 2018 by Gilligan about laws regarding transgender people had been "misleading".


References


External links


Gilligan's personal blogColumn archive
at ''Greenwich.co.uk''
Column archive
at ''
The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...
''
Column archive
at the ''
London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...
'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilligan, Andrew 1968 births Alumni of Richmond upon Thames College Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge BBC newsreaders and journalists British journalists English male journalists Living people London Evening Standard people People from Teddington Press TV people The Daily Telegraph people The Sunday Times people