{{short description|British journalist and author}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable Sir | name = Peter Riddell | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|10|14|df=y}} | birth_place = Torquay, Devon, England | education = Dulwich College | alma_mater = Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge (BA, MA) | occupation = Journalist, author | years_active = 1970–present | spouse = {{marriage|Avril|1994}} | children = 1 }}
'''Sir Peter John Robert Riddell''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (born 14 October 1948) is a British journalist and author. He worked for the ''Financial Times'' from 1970 to 1991, and from 2012 to 2016 was the director of the Institute for Government. From April 2016 to September 2021 he served as the British government's Commissioner for Public Appointments.
== Early and personal life == Riddell was born in Torquay, Devon, on 14 October 1948.<ref name=Appointment>{{cite web|url=https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmselect/cmpubadm/869/86907.htm|title=House of Commons - Appointment of the Commissioner for Public Appointments|website=parliament.uk|date=13 April 2016|access-date=18 May 2021}}</ref> His father, a solicitor, served in the RAF during the Second World War. Riddell lived in Streatham, London, during his early life. He attended Dulwich College<ref name=Podcast>{{cite podcast|url=https://www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KqUJ/|title=Peter Riddell|website=globalplayer.com|publisher=Iain Dale All Talk|host=Iain Dale|date=12 May 2021|access-date=18 May 2021}}</ref> and later graduated from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, with a BA in history and economics and an MA.<ref name=Appointment/>
Riddell married Avril in 1994. They have one daughter, born in 1996.<ref name=Appointment/>
== Journalism career == Riddell joined the ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') in 1970. He was property correspondent in the early 1970s and economics correspondent in the late 1970s, covering events such as the 1976 IMF crisis. He became the ''FT''{{'}}s political editor in 1981, at the age of 33.<ref name=Podcast/> He was US editor and Washington bureau chief at the ''FT'' between 1989 and 1991, when he left the newspaper.<ref name=Hansard>[http://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/about_us/pages/council.aspx#riddell Hansard Society - Advisory Council - Peter Riddell] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205095202/http://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/blogs/about_us/pages/council.aspx |date=5 December 2010 }}.</ref> From 1991 to 2010, he was a political commentator for ''The Times'', of which he was also an assistant editor.<ref name=guardian-20100618>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/jun/18/peter-riddell-the-times|title=Times political commentator Peter Riddell to quit paper after 19 years|author=Ben Dowell|publisher=guardian.co.uk|date=18 June 2010|accessdate=7 July 2010}}</ref>
== Civil society work == He has been a member of the Hansard Society council since 1996 and was its chair from 2007 until 2012.<ref name=Hansard/> He was a senior fellow at the Institute for Government from 2008 until 2011, and beginning in January 2012 he was its director.<ref name=FT-20100706>{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/a00ba278-892e-11df-8ecd-00144feab49a|title=Torture claims raise out-of-court deal prospect|author=James Blitz and Alex Barke|publisher=Financial Times|date=6 July 2010|accessdate=7 July 2010}}</ref>
On 6 July 2010, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced that Riddell would be one of three members of an inquiry to determine whether British intelligence officers were complicit in the torture of detainees, including those from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp or subject to rendition flights.<ref name=FT-20100706 />
On 20 April 2016, the Cabinet Office announced that Riddell would replace Sir David Normington as the new Commissioner for Public Appointments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/commissioner-for-public-appointments-appointed-peter-riddell|title=Commissioner for Public Appointments appointed: Peter Riddell - Press releases - GOV.UK|website=www.gov.uk|access-date=30 April 2016}}</ref> His term, which was initially due to expire at the end of April 2021, was extended until the end of September 2021.<ref name=Podcast/>
== Honours == As part of his work on the torture enquiry, in 2010 Riddell was appointed to the Privy Council to permit easier access to secret information, entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable".<ref name="FT-20100706" />
On 25 November 2010, Riddell was awarded the President's Medal by the British Academy "for an outstanding record as the producer of an informed picture of the inner workings of Whitehall, high politics and the party battle".<ref>{{cite news|title=British Academy President's Medal|url=http://www.britac.ac.uk/sites/default/files/BAR17-06-PresidentsMedal.pdf|accessdate=23 July 2017|work=British Academy Review|issue=17|date=March 2011|pages=13–14|format=pdf}}</ref>
Riddell was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to journalism and for public service.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=60173|supp=y|page=8|date=16 June 2012}}</ref> He was knighted in the 2022 New Year Honours for public service.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63571|supp=y|page=N2|date=1 January 2022}}</ref>
== Publications == * ''The Thatcher Government'' (1983), {{ISBN|978-0-631-14519-6}} * ''The Thatcher Decade'' (1989), {{ISBN|978-0-631-16274-2}} * ''The Thatcher Era and Its Legacy'' (1991), {{ISBN|978-0-631-18268-9}} * ''Honest Opportunism: The Rise of the Career Politician'' (1993), {{ISBN|978-0-575-40039-9}} * ''Parliament Under Pressure'' (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-575-06435-5}} * ''Parliament Under Blair'' (2000), {{ISBN|978-1-902301-60-0}} * ''Blair Government'' (2002), {{ISBN|978-1-902301-74-7}} * ''Hug Them Close: Blair, Clinton, Bush and the 'Special Relationship''' (2004), {{ISBN|978-1-84275-118-3}} * ''The Unfulfilled Prime Minister: Tony Blair's Quest for a Legacy ''(2006), {{ISBN|978-1-84275-168-8}} * ''In Defence of Politicians (in Spite of Themselves)'' (2011), {{ISBN|978-1-84954-037-7}} * ''The Power of Judges'' (2018), {{ISBN|978-1912208234}} * ''15 Minutes of Power: The Uncertain Life of British Ministers'' (2019), {{ISBN|978-1788162180}}
== References == {{reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [http://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/blog/author/peter-riddell/ Institute for Government blog - Peter Riddell's posts] * [http://www.hansardsociety.org.uk/ Hansard Society] * {{C-SPAN|8353}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddell, Peter}} Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:People educated at Dulwich College Category:Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Commissioners for Public Appointments Category:Recipients of the President's Medal (British Academy) Category:Financial Times people Category:The Times people Category:British male journalists Category:20th-century British journalists Category:21st-century British journalists Category:British newspaper journalists Category:British political journalists Category:Writers from the London Borough of Lambeth Category:People from Streatham Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Writers from Torquay