Iain Dale - Political Career

Political Career

In May 2005, Dale stood in the general election as Conservative candidate for Norfolk North, losing to the Liberal Democrat incumbent, Norman Lamb; Lamb was elected with a 10,000 plus majority as opposed to 483 at the previous election, which he fought against David Prior. Subsequently Dale acted as chief of staff to the losing leadership candidate David Davis in the run-up to the 2005 Conservative Party leadership campaign. In August 2006, it was confirmed that he had been added to the Conservative 'Priority List' of candidates to fight the next general election. However his ambitions were further frustrated in 2007 when he applied for the Conservative candidacy for the safe seat Maidstone and The Weald, but failed to get past the first interview stage.

In October 2009 he ran for selection for the Conservative safe seat of Bracknell in order to succeed Andrew MacKay, who stepped down at the 2010 general election. Dale came third in the run off ballot behind Rory Stewart and the eventual winner Dr Philip Lee.

On 17 June 2010 Dale announced on his blog that he was resigning from the Conservative Party candidates list and would not be standing at any forthcoming parliamentary election

Dale was known for provocative statements on Iain Dale's Diary. The rescue of the Chilean miners he has referred to as a "bore-a-thon"; and he compared Greenpeace protesters with Al-Qaeda terrorists. On May 25, 2010, he announced that he had phoned the University of East London asking for comment about a protestor called "Mike" who had taken part in the "Democracy Village" protest at Parliament Square; according to Dale, who had used the whois service to establish that "Mike" was a Systems Manager at the University, "... perhaps "Mike" might like to drop by again and explain his absence from his public sector workplace. His Democracy Village website indicates that he is taking part in a peace strike. Surely he doesn't expect this to wash with his employer?..".

On 22 August 2011, Dale posted on his Twitter account a series of comments criticizing the BBC, and an unnamed individual BBC reporter, for what he perceived as unnecessarily cautious television reporting during the 2011 Battle of Tripoli. 6 minutes later he posted an apology: "OK, that tweet about the BBC reporter was unfair and in bad taste. I withdraw it." Subsequently, he indicated that he would be "taking up the suggestion of making a donation to the Rory Peck Trust", a charitable trust and an award named after Rory Peck which supports cameramen injured in the line of duty.