{{short description|British journalist and politician (born 1962)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable | name = The Lord Finkelstein | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|OBE}} | image = Daniel Finkelstein at Ten Years of Shaping the Policy Agenda.jpg | alt = | caption = Finkelstein speaking in 2012 | office1 = Member of the House of Lords | status1 = Lord Temporal | term_label1 = Life peerage | term_start1 = 11 September 2013 | term_end1 = | birth_name = Daniel William Finkelstein | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1962|8|30|df=y}} | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | party = Conservative (1992–present)
| other_party = {{plainlist| * Labour (until 1981) * SDP (1981–88) * 'Continuing' SDP (1988–90) }}
| module = {{Infobox person | embed = yes | education = University College School | alma_mater = {{plainlist| * London School of Economics * City University London }} | occupation = {{plainlist| * Journalist * Politician }} | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }}
| parents = {{plainlist| * Ludwik Finkelstein (father) * Mirjam Finkelstein (mother) }}
| relatives = {{plainlist| * Alfred Wiener (grandfather) * Anthony Finkelstein (brother) * Tamara Finkelstein (sister) }} }}
'''Daniel William Finkelstein, Baron Finkelstein''' (born 30 August 1962) is a British journalist, investor, author, political commentator, government advisor and politician.<ref name="Obsrvr"/> He is a former executive editor of ''The Times,'' where he remains a weekly political columnist, and has been a regular columnist at ''The Jewish Chronicle'' since 2010.<ref>[http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/122423/jc-power-100-numbers-50-11 "JC Power 100: Numbers 50 – 11"], ''The Jewish Chronicle''. London. 10 September 2014. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912202126/http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/122423/jc-power-100-numbers-50-11 |date=12 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Daniel Finkelstein |url= https://www.thejc.com/author/daniel-finkelstein-con293f2 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240329062008/https://www.thejc.com/author/daniel-finkelstein-con293f2 |archive-date=29 March 2024 |access-date=12 June 2024 |website=The Jewish Chronicle}}</ref> Finkelstein was formerly an advisor to Prime Minister John Major and leader of the Conservative Party William Hague.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lord Finkelstein OBE |url= https://www.ukonward.com/people/lord-finkelstein-obe/ |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240225082808/https://www.ukonward.com/people/lord-finkelstein-obe/ |archive-date=25 February 2024 |access-date=12 June 2024 |website=Onward }}</ref> Since 2013 he has sat as a Conservative Peer of the House of Lords. Finkelstein is a director of Chelsea football club.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lord Daniel Finkelstein |url=https://www.chelseafc.com/en/community-champions-daniel-finkelstein |accessdate=5 June 2025 |publisher=Chelsea FC}}</ref>
He is a former chairman of Policy Exchange who was succeeded by David Frum in 2014.<ref>{{cite press release |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141018033539/http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/category/item/policy-exchange-appoints-david-frum-as-new-chairman |title=Policy Exchange appoints David Frum as new chairman |publisher=Policy Exchange |date=19 September 2014 |archive-date=18 October 2014 |url= http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/category/item/policy-exchange-appoints-david-frum-as-new-chairman |url-status=dead}},</ref> He is Chairman of the centre-right public policy think tank Onward and was a Founding Director of the Social Market Foundation. He is also a Vice President of the Jewish Leadership Council and one of the co-hosts of the weekly podcast ''How To Win An Election'' from ''The Times,'' presented by Hugo Rifkind, alongside Sally Morgan and Polly Mackenzie.<ref>https://www.thetimes.com/podcasts/how-to-win-an-election</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Council & Vice Presidents |url= https://www.thejlc.org/council-vice-presidents |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240515140517/https://www.thejlc.org/council-vice-presidents |archive-date=15 May 2024 |access-date=12 June 2024 |publisher=Jewish Leadership Council}}</ref>
==Early life and education== Finkelstein is Jewish;<ref name="Obsrvr">{{cite news |last1=Silva |first1=Rohan |date=4 June 2024 |title=Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein review – a family in peril |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/04/hitler-stalin-mum-and-dad-by-daniel-finkelstein-review-a-family-in-peril |access-date=4 June 2023 |work=The Observer |location=London}}</ref> his mother, Mirjam Finkelstein, was a Holocaust survivor of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp,<ref name="TJC300117">{{cite news |date=30 January 2017 |title=Mirjam Finkelstein, Holocaust educator, friend of Anne Frank and survivor of Bergen-Belsen, dies aged 83 |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/mirjam-finkelstein-holocaust-educator-and-survivor-of-bergen-belsen-dies-aged-83-1.431514 |access-date=30 January 2017 |work=The Jewish Chronicle}}</ref> while his father Ludwik Finkelstein was born in Lwów (then in Poland, but now in Ukraine), and became Professor of Measurement and Instrumentation at City University London.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Obituary – Professor Ludwik Finkelstein OBE FREng |url= http://www.city.ac.uk/news/2011/sep/obituary-professor-ludwik-finkelstein-obe-freng |publisher=City University London |date=6 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.thetimes.com/article/professor-ludwik-finkelstein-zh9qhln2r2v |title=Professor Ludwik Finkelstein |work=The Times |location= London |date=2 September 2011 |access-date=29 March 2016}} {{subscription required}}</ref> He is a grandson, via his mother, of Dr Alfred Wiener, the Jewish activist and founder of the Wiener Library.<ref name="TJC300117"/> He is the brother of Professor Sir Anthony Finkelstein, President of City, University of London and of Tamara Finkelstein, Permanent Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/people/tamara-finkelstein |title=Tamara Finkelstein |publisher=Government of the United Kingdom |access-date=20 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231020101908/https://www.gov.uk/government/people/tamara-finkelstein|archive-date=20 October 2023}}</ref>
He was educated at University College School, the London School of Economics (BSc, 1984) and City University London (MSc, 1986).<ref>'FINKELSTEIN', Who's Who 2014, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2013</ref>
==Career==
=== Politics ===
==== Early years ==== Finkelstein was involved in politics from a young age, and upon turning 16 joined the Young Socialists, the youth wing of the Labour Party.<ref name="White">{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Michael |title=Children of the Gang of Four |work=The Guardian |date=14 April 1997 |page=B8}}</ref> According to his sister Tamara, it was while delivering leaflets that he came across some rival literature put out by the recently formed Social Democratic Party (SDP), and rather than dispose of the material (as he had initially intended to do) he took it home, read it, and left Labour for the SDP shortly afterwards.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Owen |first1=David |title=Time to Declare |date=1991 |publisher=Michael Joseph |location=London |isbn=9780718135140 |page=631}}</ref> The journalist Michael White stated that Finkelstein belonged to the right of the Labour Party whilst he was a member, identifying with Hugh Gaitskell and Anthony Crosland.<ref name="White"/>
==== SDP ==== Finkelstein was a member of the SDP from 1981 to 1988, becoming Chair of the Young Social Democrats on the defection of his predecessor Keith Toussaint to the Conservative Party during the 1983 general election campaign.<ref>''The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1987''</ref> Subsequently, he was elected youth representative on its National Committee and selected as a parliamentary candidate for Brent East at the 1987 general election (where he came third). At around this time, Finkelstein became a close ally and adviser to David Owen, the SDP leader. When the merger with the Liberal Party was proposed, Finkelstein was among the leading opponents and refused to join the merged party, instead following Owen into the 'continuing' SDP. After Owen had announced his resignation from politics in 1992, Finkelstein was the spokesman for a group of young SDP members who joined the Conservatives.<ref>{{cite web |title=Social Democrats Press Release – Supporting John Major – 17 February 1992 |url=https://johnmajorarchive.org.uk/1992/02/17/social-democrats-press-release-supporting-john-major-17-february-1992/ |website=John Major Archive |access-date=1 March 2026 |date=17 February 1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Michael |title=Former Owenites find 'natural home' |work=The Guardian |date=18 February 1992 |page=2}}</ref>
==== Think tanks ==== Before working for the Conservative Party, Finkelstein was Director of a think-tank, the Social Market Foundation, for three years. During his period with the SMF, the organisation brought New York police commissioner Bill Bratton to London, for the first time introducing UK politicians to the new strategies being used there.
Finkelstein formerly sat on the Board of Governors of the Gatestone Institute,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/islamophobia-conservative-party-hope-not-hate-report-muslim-boris-johnson-a8784306.html |title= Opinion: It shouldn't have taken a report from outside the Muslim community for Tory Islamophobia to be taken seriously |date=18 February 2019 |website=The Independent |location= London |first=Mohammad |last=Zaheer}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About Gatestone Institute |publisher= Gatestone Institute |url= https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/about/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170409113704/https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/about/ |access-date=17 March 2021 |archive-date=9 April 2017}}</ref> a far-right think-tank known for publishing anti-Muslim articles.<ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.npr.org/2018/04/06/599856473/trump-and-muslims-a-warming-abroad-a-cooling-at-home |title=Trump's National Security And State Department Picks Alarm American Muslims |last=Gjelten |first=Tom |date=6 April 2018 |website=National Public Radio |location= Washington DC}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url= https://www.politico.eu/article/fake-news-germany-elections-facebook-mark-zuckerberg-correctiv/ |title=Germany's anti-fake news lab yields mixed results |last=Cerulus |first=Laurens |date=17 July 2017 |website=Politico.eu}}</ref> In a series of tweets in 2018, Finkelstein explained that he "didn't initially accept the critics' characterisation of (Gatestone)", that he thought they'd done "valuable" work, but that he eventually withdrew from the position due to 'the volume' of Gatestone publications he disagreed with. He acknowledged that his failure to do so earlier was "worthy of criticism".<ref>{{cite web |title= Gatestone Tweet thread |url= https://twitter.com/Dannythefink/status/1029680947862687744 |date=15 August 2018 |website=Twitter |author=@Dannythefink |access-date=19 March 2021}}</ref>
In 2018, he became chairman of the new think-tank Onward, whose mission is to renew the centre right for the next generation.<ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/05/onward-tory-think-tank-mission-remake-conservatism |title=Onward, the think tank on a mission to remake conservatism |work=New Statesman |location= London |date=18 May 2018 |first=George |last=Eaton |access-date=27 August 2019}}</ref>
==== Conservative Party ==== Between 1995 and 1997, Finkelstein was Director of the Conservative Research Department and in that capacity advised Prime Minister John Major and attended meetings of the Cabinet when it sat in political session. Finkelstein became among the earliest advocates of the 'modernisation' of the Conservative Party, laying out the principles of change in a series of speeches and columns in ''The Times''.
Between 1997 and 2001, he was political adviser to the Leader of the Opposition William Hague and, together with George Osborne, Secretary to the Shadow Cabinet.
In the 2001 election, Finkelstein was the unsuccessful Conservative parliamentary candidate in Harrow West.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.jewishtelegraph.com/prof_150.html |newspaper= Jewish Telegraph |location= Manchester |date=2012 |title= Shoah memories spur writer Daniel to seek truth and courage |first=Alex |last=Zatman}}</ref>
==Journalism== {{BLP sources section|date=March 2021}} [[File:Rt Hon Francis Maude MP and Lord Finkelstein.jpg|thumb|right|Finkelstein (right) with Francis Maude, at a Policy Exchange event in 2013]] Between 1990 and 1992, Finkelstein edited ''Connexion'', Britain's first Internet and data communications newspaper.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 April 2026 |title=Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE |url=https://www.foundationforjewishheritage.com/leadership/lord-daniel-finkelstein-obe |access-date=17 April 2026 |website=Foundation for Jewish Heritage}}</ref> Finkelstein joined ''The Times'' in August 2001 as part of the leader writing team and was Comment Editor from March 2004 to June 2008. He became Chief Leader Writer in 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Oborne |first=Peter |work=The Spectator |date=2013-09-26 |title=A man of his Times: Lord Danny Finkelstein |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/a-man-of-his-times-lord-danny-finkelstein/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |language=en-GB}}</ref> He began ''The Times'' blog Comment Central in September 2006. He is also a regular columnist in ''The Jewish Chronicle''. His weekly football statistics column, the Fink Tank, began in 2002 and runs in ''The Times'' on Saturdays.
In June 2023, Finkelstein published a memoir, ''Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad: A Family Memoir of Miraculous Survival'' (published as ''Two Roads Home: Hitler, Stalin, and the Miraculous Survival of My Family'' in the United States), describing how his mother survived Hitler's death camps and his father survived slave labour and starvation in Stalin's Siberian Gulag during the Second World War.<ref name=Freedman>{{cite news |last=Freedman |first=Sam |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/28/hitler-stalin-mum-and-dad-by-daniel-finkelstein-review-escape-from-tyranny |title=Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad by Daniel Finkelstein review – escape from tyranny |newspaper=The Guardian |issn=1756-3224 |date=28 June 2023 |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref><ref name=Cole>{{cite news |last=Cole |first=Diane |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/10/05/daniel-finkelstein-nazi-germany-memoir/ |title=His family survived WWII's horrors, and he's alive to tell the tale |newspaper=The Washington Post |issn=0190-8286 |date=5 October 2023 |access-date=13 April 2024}}</ref> It was shortlisted for the 2024 Orwell Prize for Political Writing.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 June 2024 |title=Orwell Prizes 2024 shortlists announced |url=https://www.booksandpublishing.com.au/articles/2024/06/11/253173/orwell-prizes-2024-shortlists-announced/ |access-date=24 June 2024 |publisher=Books+Publishing}}</ref>
== Other Public Service and Directorships == In March 2025, Finkelstein was appointed a trustee of the British Museum.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 March 2025 |title=Five new trustees appointed to the British Museum |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/press/press-releases/five-new-trustee-appointments-announced |website=British Museum}}</ref>
He is also a Director of Chelsea FC Holdings Limited and Director, Chelsea Football Club Limited;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lord Finkelstein |url=https://members.parliament.uk/member/4283/registeredinterests |access-date=17 April 2026 |website=Parliament.UK}}</ref> he has been a fan of the team since childhood.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Finkelstein |first=Danny |date=22 June 2022 |title=Post |url=https://x.com/Dannythefink/status/1539523044288372736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1539523044288372736%7Ctwgr%5Ef8c241814829e1e3e0eb76aa120913c2e15bed24%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thickaccent.com%2F2023%2F02%2F04%2Fmeet-daniel-finkelstein-the-superfan-now-employed-at-chelsea%2F |access-date=17 April 2026 |work=x.com}}</ref>
==Honours and awards== Finkelstein was awarded the OBE in the 1997 honours list.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=54850 |date=2 August 1997 |page=8912 |supp=y}}</ref> In 2011, he was awarded the "PSA 2011 Journalist of the Year Award".<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.psa.ac.uk/PSAAwards_details.aspx?ID=9 |title= Political Studies Association Website |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120529183026/http://www.psa.ac.uk/PSAAwards_details.aspx?ID=9 |archive-date=29 May 2012 }}</ref>
It was announced at the beginning of August 2013 that Finkelstein was to be made a life peer.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Blackburn |first=David |date=1 August 2013 |title=New working peers announced |url=http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/08/new-working-peers-announced/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130803062332/http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2013/08/new-working-peers-announced/ |archive-date=3 August 2013 |access-date=12 June 2024 |work=The Spectator}}</ref> He was created '''Baron Finkelstein''' of Pinner in the London Borough of Harrow on 11 September 2013.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=60627 |date=13 September 2013 |page=18117}}</ref>
Finkelstein was given an honorary Doctor of Science degree by City University London in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=Lord Finkelstein, OBE |url=https://www.city.ac.uk/people/honorary-graduates/daniel-finkelstein |publisher= City University London |access-date=9 June 2019}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.journalisted.com/daniel-finkelstein Articles by Daniel Finkelstein] Journalisted *[https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/danielfinkelstein/ Opinion – Daniel Finkelstein] Times Online *[https://twitter.com/dannythefink Daniel Finkelstein] Twitter {{s-start}} {{s-prec|uk}} {{s-bef|before=The Lord Whitby}} {{s-ttl|title=Gentlemen'''<br />''Baron Finkelstein'' '''}} {{s-fol|after=The Lord Carrington of Fulham}} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Finkelstein, Daniel}} Category:1962 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at University College School Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:Alumni of City, University of London Category:Jewish British politicians Category:Jewish British journalists Category:Place of birth missing (living people) Category:British people of Polish-Jewish descent Category:British sportswriters Category:Conservative Party (UK) life peers Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Social Democratic Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Conservative Party (UK) officials Category:The Times people Category:Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Newspaper leader writers Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II Category:Trustees of the British Museum Category:British male journalists