Martin ivens sunday times biography of christopher

Margaret Thatcher could always find employment for the talents of a bruiser like Ken Clarke, much as she disliked his “wet” politics. At the fag end of her rule she decided that the public services needed reform, not more money; the middle-class professionals who ran them had to be made to bend the knee to Whitehall. Clarke duly biffed them and biffed them again. When news of his transfer from the health department to education was announced in , a British Medical Association official sent this message to his opposite number in the National Union of Teachers: “Our loss is your disaster.” And now he is David Cameron’s.

History has a strange way of repeating itself. For the justice secretary’s insensitively communicated proposal to save

The information was spat out with distaste. “That man Jeremy Hunt is very nice,” said his colleague. “Watch him.” Our inoffensive new culture secretary was being marked down as a man of ambition.

For niceness is a weapon of war in politics. Niceness kills. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, and Michael Gove, the education secretary, also wield it ruthlessly. It’s scarcely a month since David Cameron and Nick Clegg founded their joint junta of niceness and its repercussions are still being felt.

The prime minister has always been determined to transform the Conservatives from the nasty party into a more sympathetic, voter-friendly outfit. When you hear him talk earnestly about his plans to create the Big Society “in our country” you hear echoes of

A Sunday Times columnist "will not write again" for the newspaper after one of his articles was branded "anti-Semitic" and "disgraceful".

In the piece, Kevin Myers suggested BBC presenters Claudia Winkleman and Vanessa Feltz earned high salaries because they were Jewish.

Editor Martin Ivens said the piece, which appeared in the Irish edition and online, should not have been published.

Mr Ivens has also apologised personally to the two women.

A News UK spokesman said the column included "unacceptable comments both to Jewish people and to women in the workplace".

News UK later clarified that the decision was an editorial one taken by the Sunday Times, not a corporate decision taken by its parent company.

An apology will also be printed in next week's paper.

The column, titled "Sorry, ladies - equal pay has to be earned", follows criticism of the BBC, after it was revealed two-thirds of its stars earning more than £, are male.

Commenting that two of the best-paid presenters, Winkleman and Feltz, were Jewish, Mr Myers wrote: "Good for them.

"Jews are not generally noted for their insistence on selling their talent for the lowest possible price, which is the most useful measure there is of inveterate, lost-with-all-hands stupidity."

Born in Edinburgh in , Gill had overcome dyslexia to forge a career as a writer.

He went to the independent St Christopher School in Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire, and studied at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and the Slade School of Fine Art, in London.

He began his writing career in the s with art reviews for magazines, before writing for Tatler and then the Sunday Times.

His first marriage was to author Cressida Connolly in He married current Home Secretary Amber Rudd, who was then a venture capitalist, in

They had two children together - Flora and Alistair - but later divorced.

Gill's illness had prompted his engagement to his partner of 23 years, Nicola Formby, with whom he also had two children - twins Edith and Isaac.

He said he had been "surprisingly excited" to be getting married to Ms Formby, who he often referred as "The Blonde" in his restaurant reviews.