Julia Hartley-Brewer

Julia Hartley-Brewer (born 2 May 1968) is an English radio presenter, political journalist and newspaper columnist. She is the presenter of the weekday breakfast radio show on talkRADIO.

Early life[]

Julia Hartley-Brewer was born on 2 May 1968.^[3] Her father, Michael John Hartley-Brewer, stood unsuccessfully as the Labour Party candidate in Selly Oak in the 1970 general election. Her mother was a general practitioner.^[4][5]

Hartley-Brewer was educated at Oldfield Girls' Comprehensive School in Bath and Woodhouse Sixth Form College in North London. She left school with three A-Levels at A grade and then gained a 2:1 degree in philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Magdalen College, Oxford.^[6][7][8] She later studied for a diploma in journalism at Cardiff University's School of Journalism.^{[citation needed]}

Career[]

Hartley-Brewer began her career in journalism at the East London Advertiser in Bethnal Green, east London.^[9] Later, she was employed as a news reporter and political correspondent for the London Evening Standard and then joined The Guardian, staying at the latter until September 2000.^[10] She then moved to the Sunday Express as political correspondent, then political editor from 2001 until 2007 and then Assistant Editor (Politics), writing a weekly opinion column. She left the Sunday Express in February 2011.

In 2006, she presented and narrated two political documentaries for the television channels BBC Two and BBC Four about the history of British Deputy Prime Ministers, called Every Prime Minister Needs a Willie, and the history of the Leader of the Opposition in The Worst Job in Politics.^[11]

She was an LBC presenter from February 2011, until she left in December 2014 to be replaced by Shelagh Fogarty.

Hartley-Brewer now broadcasts on Talkradio, a talk radio station launched on 21 March 2016. She presented the mid-morning weekday show from March 2016 until 15 January 2018, when she moved to host the weekday breakfast show from 6.30am to 10am.^[12] In September 2019, The Julia Hartley-Brewer Show was launched on YouTube; under the Talkradio brand, each programme is a one-to-one interview with a guest.

She has written opinion articles and columns for publications such as The Daily Telegraph, The Mail on Sunday and The Spectator about politics and current affairs. She has also written about her four miscarriages.^{[citation needed]}

Public appearances[]

She has appeared as a panellist on the comedy quiz show Have I Got News for You ten times, as well as being a regular panellist on BBC One's Question Time^[9] and Radio 4's Any Questions. She is a regular pundit and commentator on TV and radio, including for Sky News, the BBC News Channel, BBC One's The One Show, ITV's Tonight show, Lorraine on ITV, This Morning on ITV, The Agenda on ITV, Sunday Politics on BBC1, BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Radio 4's Today and PM programmes. She was a contestant on Pointless Celebrities in October 2014, winning the prize for her chosen charity.^[13]

Other[]

In October 2017, Hartley-Brewer alleged that the then Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, had repeatedly touched her knee throughout a dinner in 2002; the allegation contributed to his eventual resignation.^[14][15]

On 12 August 2018, she sent a tweet containing a photo of the aftermath of the 1998 Omagh bombing with text saying that Jeremy Corbyn had paid tribute to the victims of the bombing, "including the Real IRA bombers who may have snagged a nail while planting the explosives".^[16][17] The tweet was criticised as insensitive by Michael Gallagher, whose son Aidan was killed by the bomb.^[16][17] He said that while he wouldn't have "much faith" in Corbyn, her tweet was "poorly timed".^[16][17] Writer Lisa McGee criticised the use of the photo of the aftermath.^[16][17] Hartley-Brewer was also criticised by journalist David Blevins.^[16][17] She defended her tweet as satire.^[16][17]

In late 2019, Jolyon Maugham accused Hartley-Brewer of revealing his home address at a time when he was receiving death threats.^[18] Hartley-Brewer defended herself by saying Maugham's address was already easily available online and that he had previously revealed it himself in published interviews.^[18]

Views[]

Hartley-Brewer was a long-standing supporter of Brexit during the campaign in 2016.^[19] On 29 March 2019, Hartley-Brewer spoke at the Leave Means Leave rally in Parliament Square, London.^[20]

She has declared that she is an atheist.^[21] In 2010, she described herself as a "staunch and long-standing republican".^[22] She is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society.^[23]

At the Oxford University PPE Society on 20 November 2018, Hartley-Brewer gave a talk on "Political Correctness and Free Speech", in which she argued that political correctness damaged the ability to freely express political views.^[24]

The Royal College of General Practitioners invited her to speak in an "NHS Question Time" panel debate at its annual conference in 2019 but withdrew the invitation after 700 GPs signed a petition complaining that her views were not conducive to the work they were doing to promote inclusivity within the profession and amongst patients.^[25]

Personal life[]

Hartley-Brewer is married with one daughter, born in 2006.^[26]

References[]

External links[]

• Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talkradio
• The Julia Hartley-Brewer Show on Youtube
• Julia Hartley-Brewer at IMDb