Peter Whittle (author)
Peter Whittle (born 6 January 1961) is a British author, journalist and founder of the New Culture Forum think tank. He is the Culture Spokesman for the UK Independence Party.
Whittle's books, which have analysed different aspects of British society and culture from a broadly centre-right perspective, are Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain (2008), Private Views: Voices from the Front Line of British Culture (2009), A Sorry State: Self-denigration in British Culture (2010), Monarchy Matters (2011) and Being British: What's Wrong With It? (2012). A collection of his film writing for Standpoint, Reel Life, was published in 2013.
Whittle has contributed social and cultural commentary and opinion pieces to numerous national and international publications, including the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail, The Sun and the Los Angeles Times. He currently writes a column, Whittle's London, for Standpoint magazine. For the past five years he has been the magazine's film critic.
He has appeared widely across the British media, including regular appearances on BBC Newsnight Review, The Review Show, Radio 4's Moral Maze and Start the Week.
He founded the New Culture Forum, a non-aligned, independent think tank, in 2006.
Early life
Whittle was born in Waterloo, London, the son of Peter, a driver, and Joan, a civil servant. The family were from Peckham but moved to Shooters Hill, near Woolwich, in South East London when Whittle was still a baby. Woolwich and South London GeneRally has since featured in much of Whittle's journalism. He was educated at Roan Grammar School for Boys, Orpington College of Further Education and the University of Kent at Canterbury.
Career
After brief stints as a Lloyd's broker and a PR executive, Whittle established a career in television as a producer and director of documentaries. He spent much of the 90s in the Arts Department Of London Weekend Television, working on The Famous South Bank Show arts series. He went on to make programmes for Channel 4, Channel 5 and the BBC. At the same time he made numerous on-screen appearances, usually on the then fledgling satellite and cable channels, often commenting on film or interviewing arts and show business figures.
In 1999 he left the UK to live in Los Angeles, where he continued to make programmes for both the British and American networks, with subjects ranging from the life of Elizabeth I to a week in the life of a Hollywood paparazzo. While in America he gradually moved more towards print journalism, writing for the Los Angeles Times, the Times and the Sunday Times. He continued this on returning to London, where he regularly reviewed film and theatre. For the Sunday Times he interviewed such figures as Dame Helen Mirren, the director David Lynch, the architect Frank Gehry and the comedian Joan Rivers.
New Culture Forum
Whittle founded the New Culture Forum in 2006, its aim being to 'challenge the dogma and relativism of the establishment and redefine the terms of the cultural and political debate'. This aim was based on the belief that although the right had essentially won the economic arguments, the culture of the West and Britain in particular was still dominated by a set of liberal left orthodoxies.
The New Culture Forum gained a considerable profile through its published reports and events. Guest speakers included such names as the author Martin Amis, the designer Vivienne Westwood, Education Secretary Michael Gove and the playwright Richard Bean. Its reports, which have received widespread press coverage, have included in-depth studies of political bias at the BBC and the case for abolition of the Arts Council. Its most recent publication is An Unpunished Crime: The lack of prosections for FGM in the UK, by the left-wing author Julie Bindel.
Journalism
The issues of multiculturalism, social fragmentation and breakdown have been recurrent themes in Whittle's writing. A 2005 piece he wrote for the Sunday Times AbOUT the downsides to multiculturalism as experienced in Woolwich was later described by George Walden in his book Time to Emigrate? as having 'leapt off the page' because of its truthfulness amid an atmosphere of self-censorship. Whittle also wrote for Standpoint about Woolwich in the aftermath of the 2011 riots, in which he blamed not just rioters but misguided liberals for creating the conditions which led to the disturbances. The award-winning historian Michael Burleigh called it the best piece he'd read on the riots.
Whittle, who is openly gay, has also attacked the left for their lack of response to the threat to gay men posed by Islamic radicalism.
Books
Whittle's 2008 book Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain examined the contemporary culture of narcissism and obsession with fame through the device of using six fictional characters. The Sunday Telegraph called it 'the best kind of polemic: one that holds up a harsh mirror to the distinctive grotesqueries of our time'. This was followed by Private Views: Voices from the Frontline of British Culture, a collection of InterViews with leading figures from across the cultural spectrum about the state of modern culture. 'Peter Whittle always challenges the consensus, but from the perspective of someone passionate for the excellence that must be at the heart of cultural output,' wrote Jeremy Hunt, the then Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. Private Views gives a rounded picture of some of the biggest themes that need to be addressed in contemporary cultural debate.'
Monarchy Matters, which was published just before the royal wedding of 2011, was an argument in favour of the monarchy which resulted in Whittle making numerous media appearances including BBC Radio 4's Start the Week. The book, which emphasised the huge disparity between monarchism amongst the elites and amongst the population at large, was well reviewed, the Labour MP Frank Field calling it a 'brilliant polemic...not only beautifully written but also uses wit to make a point'.
Reel Life: Peter Whittle at the Movies, an e-book collection of the best of five years of film reviews for Standpoint, was published in November 2013. Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, recommended the book, saying that Whittle 'combines high cultural seriousness with a wicked wit and a complete absence of cant'.
Politics
Whittle had been Chairman of the Conservative Association while at the University of Kent,and subsequently Kent County Chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students. In 2006 he stood in Greenwich for the Conservatives in the local government elections. He joined UKIP in 2013, and spoke at the national conference that year on the theme of Beyond Multiculturalism. He is now the party's Culture Spokesman and a prospective parliamentary candidate for the constituency of Eltham, S.E.London in the 2015 General election.
List of publications
Look at Me: Celebrating the Self in Modern Britain 2008
Private Views: Voices from the Front Line of British Culture 2009
A Sorry State: Self-denigration in British Culture 2010
Monarchy Matters 2011
Being British: What's Wrong With It? 2012
Reel Life (e-book) 2013