LBC radio host Iain Dale has quit the station to run as a candidate in the general election on July 4.
Dale will try to become the Conservative Party’s candidate in Tunbridge Wells.
Candidates for the general election are prohibited from hosting radio broadcasts by broadcast regulations.
Dale told his listeners on his last show on Tuesday evening May 28): “You know how much politics means to me. And if you’ve listened for any length of time, you know I always had two ambitions in life. One was to be a radio presenter and the other was to be an MP. The last time I tried, the electorate fought back.
“But now I am putting my hat in the ring again to be a candidate at the general election.”
Dale added that he hoped he “can play a role in restoring trust and honesty in politics”.
So who is he and when was his previous attempt to join the Conservative Party as an MP?
Who is Iain Dale?
Dale is a broadcaster, author, and political commentator.
Born in Cambridge, he read German, linguistics and teaching English as a foreign language at the University of East Anglia.
His early roles included being a research assistant to the Conservative MP Patrick Thompson between 1985 and 1987, and a financial journalist with Lloyd’s List in the late 1980s.
Dale then furthered his writing career while writing for the Telegraph, the Guardian, New Statesman, and more.
He began his radio career as Andrew Pierce's regular stand-in on BBC Radio 5 Live, co-hosting Sunday Service with Fi Glover and Charlie Whelan. On June 7, 2001, the night of the 2001 general election, he gave a presentation titled Counting Chickens, a documentary about the methods used by the BBC to report election results.
Between 2010 and 2016, he hosted several episodes of What the Papers Say, People & Politics on the BBC World Service, and BBC Radio Four's The Westminster Hour.
After completing several trial shows with different journalists, Dale spent the first nine months of 2010 filling in as a stand-in presenter for LBC.
He then became a regular presenter at the station. Dale has presented its evening show, two shows during the US presidential election, four LBC General Election Night shows, and night shows during the Scottish and Brexit referendums.
Dale is also renowned for his blog Iain Dale's Diary, which the Guardian nominated for the 2005 Political Blog of the Year Award. He wrote about all things Westminster in the blog.
Dale's career also includes involvement in the publishing industry; he founded the political publishing company Politico's Publishing and ran a bookshop called Politico's Bookstore. Additionally, he has authored or edited several books on politics.
Political ambitions
Dale was the Conservative Party candidate for Norfolk North in the 2005 general election. Despite a strong campaign, he was not elected, losing to the incumbent Liberal Democrat MP, Norman Lamb.
Dale served as chief of staff to David Davis in the lead-up to the 2005 Conservative Party leadership contest. Davis was unsuccessful in his leadership bid.
It was officially announced in August 2006 that Dale had been added to the Conservative A-list of candidates for the next general election. He made an unsuccessful bid to be the Conservative candidate for Maidstone and The Weald, a safe seat.
In an attempt to replace Andrew MacKay, who resigned during the 2010 general election, Dale entered the race for the Conservative safe seat of Bracknell in October 2009. Dale finished third behind the winner Philip Lee and Rory Stewart in the run-off ballot.
Dale declared on his blog on June 17, 2010, that he was leaving the Conservative Party's candidatures list and would not run in any further parliamentary elections. Dale declared the same year he was giving up party politics and blogging at Iain Dale's Diary.
