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Con Coughlin (born 14 January 1955) is a British journalist and author, currently ''
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 ...
'' defence editor.


Early life

Coughlin was born in 1955 in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England. He read Modern History at
Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The l ...
, where he specialised in the
Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...
under the tutelage of the historian
Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama ( ; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian and television presenter. He specialises in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a professor of history and art history at Columbia Uni ...
.


Journalistic career

In August 1977 Coughlin joined the Thomson Regional Newspapers graduate trainee course and after undertaking his initial training in Cardiff served out his indentures as a trainee reporter with the '' Reading Evening Post''. In November 1980 Coughlin joined ''The Daily Telegraph'' as a general news reporter. Coughlin has spent most of his journalistic career working for what is now the Telegraph Media Group. As a young reporter for his newspaper, he was initially given responsibility for covering a number of major crime stories, such as the arrest of Peter Sutcliffe (dubbed the Yorkshire Ripper) and the Brixton riots. Becoming a foreign correspondent, his first big assignment was to cover the American invasion of Grenada in late 1983. From there he was sent to Beirut during the
Lebanese civil war The Lebanese Civil War ( ) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 150,000 fatalities and led to the exodus of almost one million people from Lebanon. The religious diversity of the ...
where he developed his interest in the Middle East and international terrorism. After the Telegraph group was bought in 1985 by the Canadian businessman Conrad Black, Coughlin was appointed ''The Daily Telegraph''s Middle East correspondent by Max Hastings, the newspaper's new editor. Coughlin opened the newspaper's bureau in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
, and spent the next three years covering a multitude of stories throughout the region. In April 1986 he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by
Hezbollah Hezbollah ( ; , , ) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group. Hezbollah's paramilitary wing is the Jihad Council, and its political wing is the Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc party in the Lebanese Parliament. I ...
fighters in Beirut, the day before another British journalist John McCarthy was kidnapped. In March 2009 Coughlin recalled this experience in ''My Alter Ego'', a programme for
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 ...
. In 1989 Coughlin returned to London, where he transferred 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 ...
'' and was appointed the newspaper's chief foreign correspondent. During the next few years he received several promotions, becoming Foreign Editor in 1997 and Executive Editor in 1999. The following year ''The Sunday Telegraph'' won the prestigious "newspaper of the year" award at the British Press Awards. He has appeared as a foreign-affairs analyst on the American networks CNN,
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
, CBS, ABC and
MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...
and NBC. In Britain he broadcasts regularly for the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and
Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...
. In 2006 Coughlin rejoined ''The Daily Telegraph'' as the newspaper's defence and security editor after a brief spell writing for the ''
Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...
'', and later that year was promoted to the post of executive foreign editor. He writes a weekly column, "Inside Abroad", and comments on a broad range of subjects, with a special interest in defence and security issues, the Middle East and international terrorism. He maintains a blog for the ''Telegraph''s website.


Author

Coughlin is the author of several books. His first book was ''Hostage: The Complete Story of the Lebanon Captives'' (Little, Brown 1992), which was followed by a study of the politics of modern Jerusalem, ''A Golden Basin Full of Scorpions'' which was BBC correspondent John Simpson's "book of the year" and was described as "excellent, a brilliant book" by the author A. N. Wilson. In 2002 Coughlin published a biography 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 ...
. The American edition, ''Saddam: King of Terror'' (ECCO) was a ''New York Times'' best-seller in 2003, and received international critical acclaim. His next book, ''American Ally: Tony Blair and the War on Terror'' (ECCO, 2006) was nominated Kirkus Reviews books of the year. In 2009 Coughlin published ''Khomeini's Ghost'' (Macmillan, London, and ECCO, New York City) a study of the life of Ayatollah Khomeini and his impact on the radicalisation of the Islamic world during the previous thirty years. Historian Dominic Sandbrook, reviewing ''Khomeini's Ghost'' in ''
The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...
'', wrote: "Readers already familiar with recent Iranian history will not discover much new information in Coughlin's account, but it nevertheless makes a very readable and entertaining introduction to a nation badly misunderstood in the west. And while Coughlin makes no secret of his deep antipathy to the Iranian government, his treatment of its founder is satisfyingly nuanced". Iranian-American journalist Azadeh Moaveni, in a review for ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', asserted that the book contained factual errors and misrepresentations of facts, the author having documents out of context to bolster his argument. In January 2014 Thomas Dunne Books published Coughlin's book on ''Churchill's First War: Young Winston at War with the Afghans''. In addition Coughlin has regularly written for several other publications including ''
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 ...
'', ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' and '' The Atlantic Monthly''.


Gaddafi legal case

Telegraph Newspapers apologised for a libel against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in April 2002. ''The Sunday Telegraph'' had published an article by Coughlin in November 1995, then the newspaper's chief foreign correspondent (and a piece for the newspaper's Mandrake column, published during the following month, which quoted Coughlin)"Gaddafi v Telegraph Group Ltd 998EWCA Civ 1626 (28 October 1998)", Judgemental alleging that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was involved in a massive criminal operation with Iranian officials that involved counterfeit notes and money laundering in Europe based on information received by British intelligence and banking officials. ''The Sunday Telegraph'' was served with a
libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...
writ by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The original story followed a lunch given by
Malcolm Rifkind Sir Malcolm Leslie Rifkind (born 21 June 1946) is a British politician who served in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1986 to 1997, and most recently as chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament from 2 ...
, then Foreign Secretary, at which editor Charles Moore and colleagues were present, and later briefings given to Coughlin by MI6 agents who had insisted on the preservation of their anonymity. After a hearing at the Court of Appeal in October 1998, it was established that the journalists had a right to bring the story before the public under the Qualified privilege, under the Reynold's Defence rules established by an earlier case, Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd the previous July. The main court case followed in 2002, which was defended by the Telegraph Group and was eventually settled out of court without any damages being paid, and with both sides agreeing to pay their own costs. In 2002 Geoffrey Robertson QC made a statement on behalf of the Telegraph Group stating "there was no truth in the allegation that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi participated in any currency sting".


Habbush letter

In late 2003, in a front-page exclusive story, Coughlin revealed a leaked intelligence memorandum, purportedly uncovered by Iraq's interim government, which detailed a meeting between
Mohamed Atta Mohamed Atta (1 September 196811 September 2001) was an Egyptian terrorist hijacker for al-Qaeda. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism, pan-Islamist, he was the ringleader of the September 11 attacks and served as the Aircraft hijacking, hijacker-pi ...
, one of the 11 September hijackers, and Iraqi intelligence at the time of Saddam Hussein. The memo was supposedly written by Iraqi security chief General Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti to the president of Iraq. The report was subsequently challenged with American officials also reiterating that there was no such link. ''The Daily Telegraphs report was repeated by several conservative columnists in the United States, including Deroy Murdock and William Safire.


Turkey

Coughlin alleged that the Turkish Prime Minister,
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...
, has negotiated a deal with Iran for Tehran to make a $25 million contribution to the campaign funds of Turkey's ruling party. Immediately after the publication of the article, Turkish Government rebutted all allegations and asked the newspaper to remove Coughlin's article from its website. Justice and Development Party also demanded an apology for publishing what it called an article without any sources but with many lies in it. ''The Daily Telegraph'' lost the libel lawsuit Erdoğan filed in UK. As a result, he won "a substantial sum" in libel damages and an apology was published by the newspaper.


Views


On civil liberties of terrorist suspects

In April 2009, Coughlin wrote an article entitled "My advice to Obama: Don't pick a fight with
Dick Cheney Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American former politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He has been called vice presidency o ...
", which was published on the ''Telegraphs website. In the article, which followed claims that US forces had
waterboarded Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water torture, water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method ...
an Al Qaeda suspect 183 times, Coughlin argued that: "There are always two sides to a story, even a deeply unpleasant one such as waterboarding an al-Qaeda suspect", before asking "what if, as Mr Cheney is now suggesting, these brutal interrogation methods actually produced information that saved lives by thwarting potential al-Qaeda attacks?". Coughlin suggested that the problem posed "an interesting ethical dilemma", namely: "Are interrogation methods like waterboarding justified if they save lives, or should we respect the detainees' human rights, thereby enabling the terror attacks to take place and claim innocent lives? I know which option I'd go for". Coughlin has continued to write articles supporting the use of torture, for example on 10 February 2010 "When the next bomb goes off in London, blame the judges".


On China

In March 2020, Couglin wrote a column in ''The Daily Telegraph'' accusing the
Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
(CCP) of being a corrupt elite that has no interest in protecting the interests of its citizens, nor those of the world beyond, and that it does to want to be held accountable for its role in handling the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. In April 2020, he wrote in another column suggesting readers should treat China like a hostile state due to what he referred to as a lack of transparency and cooperation in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and accused China of launching a disinformation campaign seeking to portray itself as a victim and clear itself of responsibility for the global health crisis.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coughlin, Con 1955 births Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford The Daily Telegraph people English male journalists English newspaper editors Living people People educated at Christ's Hospital People from Upminster