Stephen Pollard (born 18 December 1964) is an English author and journalist. From 2008 until December 2021, he was the editor ofThe Jewish Chronicle and remains a senior advisor and writer on the paper.
Pollard had what he calls a "normal, nominally orthodox north-west London Jewish upbringing". His childhood dream was to become a barrister.[1] He attendedMansfield College, Oxford.[2]
Stephen Pollard started at theEvening Standard.[1] He then worked at theDaily Express, leaving in 2001. In his final article for the paper, he used the first letter of every paragraph to spell out the phrase "Fuck you Desmond".[7][8][9]
In November 2008, he became editor ofThe Jewish Chronicle.[10] As editor, he referred to the paper as "Israel's candid friend."[11]
In September 2010, Stephen Pollard andThe Spectator apologised and paid damages and costs to the organisers of theIslam Expo conference, in a defamation case involving a blog post written by Pollard and published in July 2008. The apology regretted the suggestion that "Islam Expo Limited is a fascist party dedicated to genocide which organised a conference with a racist and genocidal programme" and accepted that "Islam Expo's purpose is to provide a neutral and broad-based platform for debate on issues relating to Muslims and Islam."[12]
During his editorship, as of October 2020, thePress Complaints Commission and its successor IPSO made fourteen rulings against the paper.[13][14] The publication was also forced to pay damages for libel on several occasions throughout his tenure.[15][16][17][18][19]
It was announced in April 2020 that the paper was going into voluntary liquidation, despite a planned merger withJewish News, announced in February 2020.[20] Pollard resigned to join a consortium bidding for the publication's assets.[21] The bid was successful and Pollard was appointed editor at large.[22]
As of 2023, he wrote frequently for theDaily Express, and also writes for theDaily Mail,The Sun andThe Daily Telegraph.[23] In January 2024, he stepped down from his position at theJewish Chronicle to concentrate on writing a history of Jewish migration and pursue other projects. He will continue to write a regular column for the paper.[22] As of 2025, he wrote most frequently forThe Spectator,The Jewish Chronicle andThe Telegraph, and he was a columnist forThe Critic magazine.[24]
Pollard is an advocate of market-based public service reforms.[25] He believes that "the state has no business running schools or hospitals"[26] and "I object to the fact I have to pay for (theBBC)".[1] He has advocated the introduction of medicalco-payments for theNational Health Service and the introduction of aflat tax.[25][27] He expressed support for ChancellorGeorge Osborne's decision to limitchild benefits, writing that "welfare is thought of as an entitlement, so that those who choose not to work to support themselves can rely on the rest of us to pay their way."[28] He has praisedRupert Murdoch as "a man who has done more to democratise news, sport and leisure than any of his opponents."[29]
Pollard says that he began to think about Judaism seriously and to feel loyalty toIsrael in his mid-thirties.[1] Pollard has calledAmnesty International a "woke joke" and accused them of allying with "groups that lioniseIslamist terrorists."[34] He has also written that "Amnesty is a worthless, morally bankrupt sham that gives succour to terrorist states."[35]
^"...[The West's] failures in the former Yugoslavia (especially Bosnia) were more than just moral. Through their impact on the credibility of our international institutions, such as NATO and the EU, they had a profound effect on the national interests of western powers. These fiascos showed that we had to engage, robustly and sometimes preventatively. The early interventions in Kosovo and Sierra Leone, although imperfect, provide an appropriate model for future action."The Henry Jackson Society's Statement of PrinciplesArchived 8 August 2010 at theWayback Machine
