Gloria De Piero

Gloria De Piero (born 21 December 1972) is a British journalist and former politician. Since July 2020 she has presented her own programme on Times Radio on Friday mornings, and has co-presented the Sunday morning political programme G&T alongside Tom Newton Dunn. Until June 2020, she co-presented Talkradio's Sunday morning political programme alongside Alexis Conran.

Gloria De Piero
De Piero in 2017
Shadow Minister for Justice
In office
3 July 2017 – 19 July 2019
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration
In office
14 September 2015 – 26 June 2016
LeaderJeremy Corbyn
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byCat Smith
Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
In office
7 October 2013 – 14 September 2015
LeaderEd Miliband
Harriet Harman (Acting)
Preceded byYvette Cooper
Succeeded byKate Green
Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention
In office
8 October 2011 – 7 October 2013
LeaderEd Miliband
Shadow Minister for Culture
In office
8 October 2010 – 8 October 2011
LeaderEd Miliband
Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
In office
6 May 2010 – 6 November 2019
Preceded byGeoff Hoon
Succeeded byLee Anderson
Personal details
Born (1972-12-21) 21 December 1972
Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse(s)
James Robinson
​
(m. 2012)​
EducationYorkshire Martyrs Catholic College
Bradford College
Alma materBirmingham City University
University of Westminster
Birkbeck, University of London
WebsiteOfficial website

A member of the Labour Party, she was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashfield in 2010. She held positions in the shadow cabinet under the leadership of both Ed Miliband and Jeremy Corbyn. This included being the Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities between October 2013 and September 2015, and the Shadow Justice Minister between July 2017 and July 2019. She announced her decision to step down from politics at the same time as she quit the Labour frontbench in July 2019.[1] Prior to her political career, she was the political editor of GMTV.

Early life

De Piero was born on 21 December 1972 in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England to Giorgio and Maddalena De Piero.[2] Her parents are Italian immigrants who moved to the United Kingdom (UK) to work in Bradford's textile mills. Her father had a mental health crisis when she was around the age of nine. This resulted in him requiring admissions to psychiatric hospitals throughout her childhood. His mental health meant that he could not continue to work, and De Piero's mother gave up her job to look after him, and the family lived on benefits.[3]

She attended Yorkshire Martyrs Catholic College where she obtained five GCSEs, and Bradford College where she gained two D A Levels.[3] During her youth, De Piero was a member of Socialist Organiser, and joined the Labour Party's student wing Labour Students at the age of 18.[4][5] De Piero then studied sociology at the University of Central England (now Birmingham City University) and the University of Westminster and graduated with a first.[2][3] She was involved in the Labour Students' campaign in 1996–1997 as one of its national officers based in London.[5] After the 1997 general election which resulted in the Labour Party winning in a landslide, De Piero applied for several government positions including as a special adviser, parliamentary researcher, and at left-wing think tanks but failed to gain employment.[6][3]

Media career

De Piero began her career in journalism as a researcher for ITV's Jonathan Dimbleby show.[3] She then moved to the BBC where she worked at On the Record.[7] While working at the BBC, she completed a master's degree at Birkbeck, University of London.[8] From 2003 to 2010, she was the political editor for GMTV.[9]

On 2 June 2020, De Piero was announced as a presenter on the new Times Radio station.[10] She presents her own show on Friday mornings, and co-presents the Sunday morning political show G&T alongside the former political editor of The Sun, Tom Newton Dunn.[11]

Parliamentary career

2010 to 2015

In February 2010, De Piero resigned as GMTV's political editor to seek selection as the Labour candidate for the Ashfield constituency in the 2010 general election.[9] The candidacy became vacant following the announcement that the constituency's Labour MP, former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, would be stepping down at the election.[12] On 21 March, she was selected as the party's candidate.[13] De Piero was elected with a majority of 192 votes (reduced from 10,213 in 2005) after a 17.2% swing to the Liberal Democrats.[14] During her election campaign, it was reported that she had posed for topless photographs for a modelling agency at the age of 15.[15][16] Three years later, an unnamed news agency attempted to buy the photographs on behalf of a national newspaper.[17] It later emerged that The Mail on Sunday had purchased the photographs in 2010. De Piero issued a legal warning to the newspaper that she had been underage when the photographs were taken and the negatives were returned to her with an apology.[3][18]

In October 2010, Labour leader Ed Miliband appointed De Piero as a shadow culture minister.[19] In the 2011 reshuffle, De Piero became Shadow Minister for Crime Prevention,[20] and in 2013, she was promoted to the shadow cabinet as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities.[21]

In 2012, De Piero held a national tour called 'Why Do People Hate Me?' designed to discover why voters were so disenchanted with politicians.[22] She visited bingo halls, jazzercise classes, warehouses and golf clubs to ask people about their disenchantment, writing that 'I want to hear the disillusionment in their own words'.

2015 to 2019
Gloria de Piero in Bradford in 2015.

At the 2015 general election, De Piero held Ashfield with an increased majority of 8,820.[23][24] In September 2015, De Piero was elected to the Labour Party's Conference Arrangements Committee with 109,888 votes.[25] In new Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's first shadow cabinet, De Piero was made Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration, a new shadow cabinet-level role.[26] She resigned her shadow cabinet position on 26 June 2016, among dozens of her colleagues, believing Corbyn could not lead the party to a general election victory.[27][28]

De Piero supported the UK remaining within the European Union (EU) in the 2016 UK EU membership referendum, and was present with Corbyn at the launch of the Labour In for Britain campaign.[29] Approximately 70% of her constituents voted for the UK to leave the EU.[30] She supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Corbyn in the 2016 Labour leadership election.[31]

At the June 2017 general election, De Piero's majority in Ashfield fell to just 441 votes.[32] The following month, she accepted a place in Corbyn's shadow front-bench team as Shadow Justice Minister.[33]

In the indicative votes on 27 March 2019, De Piero voted for Norway plus, and to a customs union with the EU.[34] In July 2019, she resigned from the shadow front-bench and announced that she would not stand at the next general election. On 12 December 2019, she was succeeded as Member of Parliament for Ashfield, Nottinghamshire by the Conservative politician Lee Anderson, her former office manager.[35][36][37]

Personal life

De Piero married James Robinson in 2012. Robinson was a media correspondent at The Guardian, media editor at The Observer and an employee at PR firm Powerscourt. He was the director of communications for former deputy leader of the Labour Party Tom Watson.[38][39][40][41]

References
  1. "Gloria De Piero: Labour MP quits as shadow justice minister". BBC News. 20 July 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019.
  2. "De Piero, Gloria". A & C Black. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  3. Turner, Janice (29 July 2017). "Is Gloria De Piero Britain's most unlikely MP?". The Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.(subscription required)
  4. "Many interruptions, one struggle". Alliance for Workers Liberty. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  5. McSmith, Andy (22 October 2012). "Gloria de Piero's question for the public: why do you hate me?". The Independent. Archived from the original on 1 July 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  6. "1997: Labour landslide ends Tory rule". BBC News. 15 April 2005. Archived from the original on 1 September 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  7. Merrick, Jane (13 October 2013). "Gloria De Piero: Attention everyday sexists - beware the 'TV girl'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  8. De Piero, Gloria (8 February 2019). "I talked to my Leave-voting constituents about Brexit. This is what I learnt". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  9. "Downing Street accused of 'dirty tricks' over plan to get presenter into safe seat". The Daily Telegraph. 14 March 2010. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  10. Lerone, Toby (2 June 2020). "Launch date and schedule revealed for Times Radio". RadioToday. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  11. "Gloria De Piero and Tom Newton Dunn to host 'G&T', Times Radio's flagship Sunday morning political show". News UK. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  12. Sparrow, Andrew (11 February 2010). "Geoff Hoon to stand down at general election". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
  13. "Ex-GMTV reporter Gloria De Piero is Labour candidate". BBC News. 21 March 2010.
  14. "Ex-TV reporter wins Labour seat of Ashfield". BBC News. 7 May 2010.
  15. Cockcroft, Lucy (28 March 2010). "Labour candidate posed topless as a teenager". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  16. Dixon, Hayley (16 October 2013). "Gloria de Piero: I was photographed topless at 15 so I know why girls strip off". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  17. Mason, Rowena (17 October 2013). "Shadow minister Gloria De Piero asks press to 'call off hunt' for topless photos". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  18. "Street of shame". Private Eye (1354): 7. 29 November 2013.
  19. "Shadow cabinet: junior appointments in full". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  20. "The Labour reshuffle – who's up and who's down". Total Politics. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 28 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  21. "Labour appoints former GMTV political editor Gloria de Piero MP as Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities". PinkNews. Archived from the original on 26 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  22. Piero, Gloria de. "Why do people hate me?". LabourList. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  23. "Gloria De Piero has successfully defended her Ashfield seat for Labour". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  24. "Ashfield: Gloria de Piero retains seat for Labour". Nottingham Post. Local World. 8 May 2015. Archived from the original on 14 May 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
  25. "Full results for Conference Arrangements Committee and National Policy Forum". LabourList. 14 September 2015. Archived from the original on 23 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  26. "What do the voters make of Jeremy Corbyn so far?". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 21 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  27. "Who's staying and who's going in the shadow cabinet?". BBC News. 27 June 2016. Archived from the original on 27 June 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  28. Syal, Rajeev; Perraudin, Frances; Slawson, Nicola (27 June 2016). "Shadow cabinet resignations: who has gone and who is staying". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 July 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  29. Telegraph Video, video source ITN (10 May 2016). "Corbyn launches Labour In for Britain campaign battlebus". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  30. "'I don't like Brussels telling us what to do': how Ashfield feels about Brexit now". The Guardian. 29 November 2017. Archived from the original on 11 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  31. "Full list of MPs and MEPs backing challenger Owen Smith". LabourList. 21 July 2016. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. Retrieved 15 July 2019.
  32. Syal, Rajeev (4 July 2017). "Senior Labour figures clash over concerns of working-class voters". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  33. Elgot, Jessica (3 July 2017). "Jeremy Corbyn appoints clutch of unknowns to shadow frontbench". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  34. "How MPs voted on May's withdrawal deal defeat". Financial Times. 29 March 2019. Archived from the original on 2 September 2019.
  35. "Gloria De Piero: Labour MP quits as shadow justice minister". BBC News. 20 July 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  36. "Labour MP Gloria De Piero urges women to change parliament". The Guardian. 2 November 2019. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  37. Cooper, Benjamin (20 July 2019). "Labour MP Gloria De Piero quits Corbyn's frontbench over 'intolerance'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  38. "James Robinson". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 13 April 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  39. Spanier, Gideon (10 October 2012). "In the air: Clarkson is driving Times web ads push". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012.
  40. "James Robinson swaps Powerscourt PR for Tom Watson spin". The Guardian. 16 June 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
  41. Rayner, Gordon (26 June 2016). "Project Jexit: how Labour imploded as shadow cabinet tried to force Jeremy Corbyn to quit". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 March 2017. Retrieved 23 March 2017.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Geoff Hoon		 Member of Parliament
for Ashfield
2010–2019		 Succeeded by
Lee Anderson
Political offices
Preceded by
Yvette Cooper		 Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities
2013–2015		 Succeeded by
Kate Green
New office Shadow Minister for Young People and Voter Registration
2015–2016		 Succeeded by
Cat Smith
as Shadow Minister for Voter Engagement and Youth Affairs
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