''For the medieval chronicler and artist, see
Matthew Paris''
'Book about L'Avenc'
'Matthew Parris' (born
August 7 1949 in
Johannesburg) is a
journalist and former
Conservative politician in the
United Kingdom.
Early life
Parris is the eldest of six children and grew up in several countries where his British father was working as an electrical engineer (
South Africa,
Cyprus,
Rhodesia,
Swaziland and
Jamaica). His mother was an actress. At the age of 19 he drove across Africa to Europe in a
Morris Oxford; the trip was traumatically punctuated when he and the girl he was travelling with were attacked and he was forced to witness her rape. After obtaining a first class degree in law from
Clare College,
Cambridge, he studied international relations at
Yale University. He was offered a job as a spy, but worked for the
Foreign and Commonwealth Office for two years. In 1976 he left this secure career because he did not like its formality, and because he wanted to become a
Member of Parliament. He first applied to become an apprentice
London Transport bus fitter, but was rejected, so he joined the
Conservative Research Department. He moved on to become correspondence secretary to
Margaret Thatcher. He was awarded an
RSPCA medal (presented by the prime minister) for jumping into the
Thames and rescuing a dog.
Parliamentary career
He served as the
Conservative MP for the rural
parliamentary constituency of
West Derbyshire from
1979 until
1986. Competing prospective candidates for the seat included
Peter Lilley and
Michael Howard, later Conservative leader. The start of his career was overshadowed by a letter which he had written to a
council tenant on behalf of Margaret Thatcher, which became featured in
Labour Party election publications. As an MP he voiced his support for
gay rights. Parris eventually left politics to pursue a career in journalism.
Radio and television work
Parris is now a radio and
television presenter and pundit. As an MP he took part in a documentary requiring him to live for a week on state
social security payments set by the Conservative government for which he was an MP. The experiment came to an embarrassing end when he ran out of money for the electricity meter.
Parris left Parliament specifically to take over from
Brian Walden as host of
ITV's influential Sunday lunchtime current-affairs series ''
Weekend World'' in 1986. The series, broadcast since 1976 with Walden at its helm, ran for two more years under Parris before being cancelled in 1988. Parris was criticised for being "too nice", and being unable to ask the "killer" questions that had made Brian Walden such a popular host.
He presents
BBC Radio 4's ''
Great Lives'' biography series, and has appeared on the comedy news programme ''
Have I Got News For You''.
Writing and journalism
Parris is a prolific writer and has written many books on politics and travel. In 1991, a compilation of his pieces in ''The Times'' appeared, entitled ''So Far, So Good''. Since then there have been further compilations. ''Scorn'', a book he has edited of quotations about curses, jibes and general invective, was published in October 1994.
His success has been as a
parliamentary reporter, due to his knowledge and understanding of politicians and ability to express this well. He is regarded as one of the leading critics of
Tony Blair, and is thought of by many as one of the most powerful commentators on
Fleet Street. He worked as parliamentary
sketch writer for ''
The Times'' newspaper from 1988 to 2001. His writing has largely concerned current events rather than a historical account of his own time in politics. He has weekly columns in ''The Times'' and ''
The Spectator'' magazine.
In 2004 Parris became Writer of the Year in
Granada Television's
What the Papers Say Awards. In part, this was for reporting on elections in
Iraq and
Afghanistan. His previous accolades include Columnist of the Year in the 1991 and 1993
British Press Awards, and in the ''What the Papers Say'' Awards 1992. In 1990 he received the
London Press Club's
Edgar Wallace Outstanding Reporter of the Year Award.
Criticism of Tony Blair
Parris has suggested that
Tony Blair has a deep flaw in his personality which makes him unsuitable for the role of
Prime Minister. On
March 18 2006 he wrote-
"No more excuses. Just hand in your homework and go, Prime Minister", The Times
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article742507.ece
Travel writing
Parris has made several expeditions abroad, including to
Mount Kilimanjaro in 1967 and 1989,
Zaire in 1973, the
Sahara in 1978, and
Peru and
Bolivia. In 1990 he published ''Inca-Kola'', about his travels in Peru.
'L'Avenc'
He spent the
Antarctic winter of 2000 on the French possession of Grande Terre (also known as
Desolation Island, part of the
Kerguelen Archipelago in the
Indian Ocean) with a few dozen over-winterers, mostly researchers. One of them was fatally shot in a tragic accident, an event about which he writes movingly.
In 2005 Parris published ''A Castle in Spain'' about his family's project to refurbish a derelict 16th century mansion, L'Avenc, in
Catalunya, close to the foothills of the
Pyrenees, and make his home there.
Personal life
Parris announced he was
gay in one of his weekly newspaper columns. He has stated that he was once beaten up on
Clapham Common, which he had habitually visited late at night when an MP. This left him with a quiet determination to fight for
gay rights. So quiet, in fact, that he appears to have done nothing about it when an MP. In a live interview on ''Newsnight'' during the
Ron Davies scandal of 1998, he famously told interviewer
Jeremy Paxman that there were two gay members of the then current Labour Cabinet, one being
Peter Mandelson. He has stated that there are between thirty and sixty unannounced gay members of the UK parliament. In
July 2006, in a list compiled by the ''
Independent on Sunday'', Parris was voted the 73rd most influential gay man in the United Kingdom.
In August 2006, Parris entered into a
civil partnership with his long-term partner, Julian Glover, a political journalist (not to be confused with
the actor of the same name). At the time of their partnership, they had been together for eleven years.
Parris is a keen
marathon runner, taking part in the
London event several times, with a fastest time of 2:32:57.
He owns homes in
Spain,
Derbyshire, and the
Docklands of
East London.
Bibliography
★ ''A Castle in Spain'' (Viking, 2005) ISBN 0-670-91547-5
★ ''Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life in Politics'' (Viking, 2002) ISBN 0-670-89440-0
★ '' The King's English (Oxford Language Classics Series)'' Henry Fowler, Frank Fowler, Matthew Parris (introduction) (Oxford University Press, 2002) ISBN 0-19-860507-2
★ ''Off Message: New Labour, New Sketches'' (Robson Books, 2001) ISBN 1-86105-479-3
★ ''I Wish I Hadn't Said That: The Experts Speak - and Get It Wrong!'' Matthew Parris (foreword),
Christopher Cerf,
Victor Navasky (HarperCollins, 2000) ISBN 0-00-653149-0
★ ''Against the Law: The Classic Account of a Homosexual in 1950s Britain'' Peter Wildeblood, Matthew Parris (introduction) (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1999) ISBN 0-297-64382-7
★ ''The Great Unfrocked: Two Thousand Years of Church Scandal'' (Robson, 1998) ISBN 1-86105-129-8
★ ''Scorn with Extra Bile'' Matthew Parris (editor) (Penguin Books, 1998) ISBN 0-14-027780-3
★ ''I Couldn't Possibly Comment: More Sketches from the Commons'' (Robson Books, 1997) ISBN 1-86105-095-X
★ ''Read My Lips: A Treasury of Things Politicians Wish They Hadn't Said'' (Parkwest Publications, 1997) ISBN 1-86105-043-7
★ ''Great Parliamentary Scandals: Four Centuries of Calumny, Smear and Innuendo'' (Robson Books, 1995) ISBN 0-86051-957-0
★ ''Scorn with Added Vitriol'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1995) ISBN 0-241-13587-7
★ ''Scorn: A Bucketful of Discourtesy, Disparagement, Invective, Ridicule, Impudence, Contumely, Derision, Hate, Affront, Disdain, Bile, Taunts, Curses and Jibes'' (Hamish Hamilton, 1994) ISBN 0-241-13384-X
★ ''Look Behind You!: Sketches and Follies from the Commons'' (Robson, 1993) ISBN 0-86051-874-4
★ ''So Far So Good...: Selected Pieces'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991) ISBN 0-297-81215-7
★ ''Inca Kola: A Traveller's Tale of Peru'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1990) ISBN 0-297-81075-8
★ ''Coping with the Soviet Union'' Peter Blaker, Julian Critchley, Matthew Parris (Conservative Political Centre Bookshop, 1977) ISBN 0-85070-599-1
External links
★
Times Online - Matthew Parris column archives
★
Times Online - The Matthew Parris Pol-Cast Podcast series commenting on the 2006
Party conference season
★
Times Online - Matthew Parris: the Kerguelen columns articles from his trip to the
Kerguelen Islands
★
audio interview
★
Matthew Parris from the
Open Directory Project
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