Boris Johnson rose to high political office through journalism – and will likely return to it sooner rather than later.
these days it’s not a huge phenomenon on this island but if you rewind a bit you’ll find it’s a more common combination than you might think, although the results of this strange mix of journalist and politics are “mixed” at best .
It may come as no surprise that Irish history is full of prominent names who were deeply involved in both journalism and elected politics.
Many of the leaders of Young Ireland and the Fenians of the 19th century were also journalists in Ireland and the US.
Parnell’s Irish Party had people like William O’Brien and Timothy Harrington who wrote and edited a lot. Sinn Féin founder Arthur Griffith has the United Ireland from 1899, while Pádraig Pearse edited An Claidheamh Soluis, the weekly bilingual newspaper of the Gaelic League, and another 1916 leader, James Connolly, was a prolific writer for a plethora of labor publications.
It has long been forgotten that Ernest Blythe, who is still remembered for cutting a shilling from retirement in 1924, the stylish southern starwho is fortunately still with us.
Three future Irish presidents – Éamon de Valera, Erskine Childers and Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh – helped establish the Irish Press Group. A fourth president, Seán T O’Kelly, created the nation and wrote for a wide variety of Irish and American publications.
More recently, two senior government figures have also been prominent journalists. Former Taoiseach Dr. Garret FitzGerald wrote for a long list of foreign publications, including newspapers in Hong Kong and India, as well as the economist magazine.
For many Irish people, Conor Cruise O’Brien is primarily remembered as a journalist who wrote a weekly column in the Irish independent†
He was a man of many talents, variously diplomat, politician and journalist, serving as Labor TD from 1969 to 1977 and minister from 1973 to 1977.
“The Cruiser” headed the government-backed Irish News Agency, which existed from 1949 to 1957, with the aim of countering UK-dominated news agency stories abroad and campaigning against partition. After he left politics, he was editor-in-chief of the weekly newspaper Observer from 1978 to 1981.
More recently, forays into politics by journalists have been less high-profile. An exception here was the RTE journalist George Lee, who was accused of successfully championing Fine Gael in a June 2009 by-election. A gifted economic commentator, his message at a time of financial crash helped him top the poll with more than half the vote.
Then he soon discovered that politics was absolutely not for him and chose to return to RTÉ before his year of leave was up. The whole adventure lasted 10 months.
Today, journalists turned politicians are scarcer around Leinster House. Meath West Fianna Fáil, former TD and now Senator Shane Cassells, was an accomplished sports journalist. Others, such as the evergreen Willie O’Dea and Michael McDowell, can regularly provide a fiery commentary. But they are exceptions.
Finally, here’s a simple fact you can all have for free: I’m not now — and never have been — tempted to get into politics. I’ve seen enough politics to know that long-term scribbling is a much better bet.