Stephen Pollard

Stephen Pollard is the current editor of the Jewish Chronicle, as well as a political columnist who has written for several newspapers, including the Express, Spectator, The Independent, the Telegraph and, occasionally, The Guardian.

Politics: Pollard is a hard-right economic libertarian,^[1] and advocates market-based public service reforms. Although starting out on the political Left, by 2006 he held the view that, in the "battle to save western civilisation", the "Left, in any recognisable form, is now the enemy".^[2]

Islam: Pollard has been decried as an "anti-Muslim hatemonger";ref he promotes and endorses a book by Douglas Murray, whose views on Muslims are so extreme that the Tory Party cut ties with him.ref,ref

Israel: Pollard is an "Israel firster": a dedicated Zionist and ardent defender of Israel, arguing it is Israel's duty to protect its civilians from Hamas's ongoing assault.ref Pollard is a key protagonist in allegations of anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitism: when it comes to anti-Zionists such as Jeremy Corbyn, Pollard is extremely vociferous, relying on guilt-by-association,ref and claims that Corbyn worships tyrants, is unpatriotic, and excuses 'Russian imperialism' against NATO.^[1]
When the anti-Semite is also a Zionist, Pollard is silent. Two such examples are far-right Zionist politician Michał Kamiński MEP and Chairman of the European Conservatives and Reform Group, and Roberts Zīle of the Latvian Fatherland and Freedom Party. Both were guests at the Conservative Party Conference in 2009 and of the Conservative Friends of Israel.

Rupert Murdoch: Pollard is a big fan of Rupert Murdoch, saying he had helped create a "broad and free and prosperous press".ref, and that "the real Murdoch is a man who has done more to democratise news, sport and leisure than any of his opponents".ref,ref

Fracking: Pollard claims fracking will solve our energy crisis and bring jobs, and that it offers the chance to reduce carbon emissions without having to sacrifice the economy.ref There is nothing "clean" about shale gas; its GHG footprint is at least 20% greater than coal's, more than twice as great on the 20-year horizon, and is only comparable over 100 years.ref,ref

Bio / Affiliations

Jan.2014—	Appointed a director of Jewish Chronicle Newspaper Ltd.ref
mid-2009	Reconciled with Richard Desmond, and resumed writing articles for the Daily Express.
Oct.2008—	Editor at The Jewish Chronicle.ref
Mar.2007	Founding chairman of the now-defunct (~Jun.2011) European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism,ref
Jan.2006	Sat on the (now defunct) Advisory Board of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest,ref as a Centre for the New Europe representative.ref The CMPI's biggest contributors in 2006 were Pfizer Inc and PhRMA, Big Pharma's industry trade/lobby group.ref
2005-2008	Honorary Senior Fellow at Civitas (~May.2005-Sept.2008).ref
Mar.2005	Signatory founder of the Henry Jackson Society,ref a secretive, neo-conservative foreign policy think tank.ref ref
Feb.2005	Expert witness in the US Senate’s hearing on pharmaceutical importation; sat on Pfizer Europe's advisory board.ref
~2005‑Nov.2006	Director of the Centre for the New Europe's health policy programme.ref,ref
~2004	Sat on think tank Reform's advisory board.ref
2003-2007	Senior Fellow, later President,ref of the now-defunct Centre for the New Europe,ref a Brussels-based free-market think tank funded by Pfizer and ExxonMobil, amongst others.ref,ref
Dec.2000	Accepted an offer from The Times of London as a columnist and leader writer on health policy issues. As a parting shot, Pollard wrote an acrostic to his ex-employer Richard Desmond in Jan.2001, as a result of which The Times withdrew their offer.ref,ref Pollard was among the first of several high-profile departures from the Daily Express after its takeover by Northern & Shell, publishers of the celebrity and soft porn titles OK! and Asian Babes.ref
1998-2000	Joined the Daily Express as a columnist; became Chief Leader Writer and Associate Editor in 2000.
1997-1998	Made the switch to journalism as a leader writer on the Evening Standard and the The Independent.
1995-1998	Head of Research at the Social Market Foundation.
1992‑1995	Research Director at the left-wing Fabian Society.
early.1990s	Worked for as a research assistant^[3] for anti-EEC Labour MP Peter Shore, one of the leaders of the ‘No’ campaign in the EEC referendum 1975.^[2]ref, p.24