James Delingpole

James Delingpole
Born	(1965-08-06) August 6, 1965 Worcestershire, England
Occupation(s)	Author, journalist, columnist
Known for	Climate change denial advocacy, opposition to wind power
Notable work	How to be Right: The Essential Guide to Making Lefty Liberals History; Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future and It Doesn't Work; 365 Ways to Drive a Liberal Crazy; Coward series (Coward on the Beach, Coward at the Bridge)

James Mark Court Delingpole (born 6 August 1965) is an English author, journalist, and columnist who has contributed to outlets such as the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. He formerly served as executive editor for Breitbart London and has authored several novels alongside four books focused on politics. Identifying as a libertarian conservative, Delingpole is recognized for his advocacy of climate change denial and his opposition to wind power initiatives.

Education and early life

Raised near Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, Delingpole is the son of a businessman. His education includes attendance at Malvern College, an independent boys' school, from 1978 until 1983, followed by studies in English language and literature at Christ Church, Oxford between 1983 and 1986.

Career

Delingpole contributes articles to the Daily Mail, Daily Express, The Times, The Daily Telegraph, and The Spectator. Among his four political publications are titles such as How to be Right: The Essential Guide to Making Lefty Liberals History, Welcome to Obamaland: I Have Seen Your Future and It Doesn't Work, and 365 Ways to Drive a Liberal Crazy.

His fiction works include Fin and Thinly Disguised Autobiography. Bloomsbury released his "Coward" series, beginning with Coward on the Beach (2007), which is set during the Normandy landings, followed by Coward at the Bridge (2009), situated in the context of Operation Market Garden.

In 2005, Delingpole hosted the Channel 4 documentary The British Upper Class, part of a series examining Britain's class structure. A review by The Guardian highlighted his skill in enhancing public perceptions of the upper classes.

He has openly criticized wind farms, labeling turbines as "environmentally damaging" and detrimental to rural landscapes.

In 2012, Delingpole co-established the satirical blog Bogpaper alongside Jan Skoyles. The following year, he issued an apology after making contentious remarks about journalist Suzanne Moore.

In 2015, he was identified as a source in Lord Ashcroft's unauthorized biography of David Cameron, titled Call Me Dave, where he claimed to have smoked cannabis with the future Prime Minister.

Anthropogenic global warming

Delingpole has consistently advocated for climate change denial. In September 2009, through his blog on the Daily Telegraph, he amplified accusations made by Steve McIntyre against Keith Briffa, wrongly alleging data manipulation aimed at discrediting the 1998 hockey stick graph. He also contested the accuracy of a segment in An Inconvenient Truth, despite that graph being derived from different datasets.

In November 2009, Delingpole popularized the phrase "Climategate" in reference to the Climatic Research Unit email controversy, asserting it revealed a conspiracy behind anthropogenic global warming and urging skepticism regarding public expenditure on climate initiatives. He later addressed a conference held by The Heartland Institute, describing Climategate as a crucial event potentially safeguarding Western civilisation. Subsequent investigations found no evidence of misconduct by the scientists involved.

While accepting that global warming exists, Delingpole questions its human origins and magnitude. In the BBC Horizon documentary "Science under Attack" (2011), he dismissed the scientific consensus on climate change, arguing that science is not determined by consensus and admitting that as a journalist he interprets analyses rather than reading peer-reviewed research directly. The Routledge Handbook of Environmental Journalism characterized this position as "detached from reality".

In 2012, he authored a contentious article in The Australian titled "Wind Farm Scam a Huge Cover-Up", which was condemned by the Australian Press Council for offensive content.

On 10 January 2013, the UK Met Office issued a rebuttal to Delingpole's Daily Mail piece "The crazy climate change obsession that's made the Met Office a menace", correcting factual errors and clarifying previous inaccuracies that had been retracted by the Telegraph.

Delingpole has repeatedly incited hostility toward specific scientists and climate activists. In a 2013 article for the Spectator, he controversially proposed severe penalties for climate scientists including Michael E. Mann, Tim Flannery, and George Monbiot. However, he later dismissed such suggestions as metaphorical and counterproductive, instead advocating symbolic "Nuremberg trials" for climate campaigners.

Politics

Delingpole has characterized himself as "arguably the most marginalized segment within British society—the white, middle-aged, public school-educated, Oxbridge-educated middle-class male."

He endorsed Tony Blair’s approach to the Iraq War, remarking in 2009 that Blair’s position on the War on Terror was "the sole principled action of his political career."

On 6 September 2012, Delingpole declared his intention to run in the 2012 Corby by-election, campaigning against wind farms. He subsequently withdrew his candidacy, asserting that his campaign had been "remarkably effective" even before any ballots were cast. An inquiry by Greenpeace uncovered that Conservative Party campaign manager Chris Heaton-Harris supported Delingpole’s bid, describing it as a strategic move to "generate disruption" and bring greater political attention to the wind farm debate.

In a 2013 article for The Spectator, Delingpole revealed he possessed "dual political allegiance": emotionally connected to UKIP while intellectually endorsing the Conservatives, whom he praised as "the natural governing party" within a political framework where elected officials are accountable to the electorate.

Awards and prizes

In 2005, Delingpole was honored with the Charles Douglas-Home Memorial Trust Award for his essay titled "What are museums for?"

He received the Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism in 2010 for his blog contributions to the Telegraph. This $3,000 prize from the free-market International Policy Network acknowledges work advancing "the principles and institutions of a free society." The award recognized Delingpole’s influential commentary during the Climatic Research Unit email controversy and marked the second year in a row that a Telegraph blogger secured this accolade.

Personal life and family

Delingpole is married to gardening writer Tiffany Daneff. Together, they have three children.

External links

• Official website