British journalist and broadcaster Rod Liddle has died after a short illness at the age of 66.
Liddle was a high-profile columnist for The Sunday Times and The Sun. He also had a weekly column in The Spectator and a Times Radio show.
Liddle died at The James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough on Sunday evening.
Rebekah Brooks, chief executive of News UK, said: “Everyone at News UK is deeply shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death of Rod Liddle.
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“Rod was an inimitable journalistic force, brilliant, provocative and immensely talented, whose sharp wit and uncompromising voice graced our pages and airwaves for decades.
Liddle, a former editor of BBC Radio 4’s flagship Today programme, was no stranger to controversy over the course of his career and was the first journalist to have an online blog censured by the UK press watchdog.
John Humphrys, Today presenter during Liddle’s editorship, told The i Paper: “Rod was wonderful to work with. We argued like hell – I can’t remember how many times he sacked me or I resigned in anger.”
In 2010, a complaint was upheld by the Press Complaints Commission after the writer and columnist claimed on the Spectator website that the “overwhelming majority” of violent crime in London was carried out by young Afro-Caribbean men.
It was while he was editor of Today that Liddle hired Andrew Gilligan, the BBC journalist whose 2003 report claimed the UK government “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.
Liddle left the BBC before Gilligan’s controversial report was broadcast.
He was subsequently a vocal critic of Lord Hutton’s report into the death of weapons expert David Kelly, which cleared the UK government of exaggerating the case for war in Iraq.
Liddle also made headlines for his colourful private life, when he left his partner of 11 years, Rachel Royce, with whom he had two children, for his 23-year-old mistress.
The estranged couple waged a public war of words over his affair with Alicia Munckton, a former receptionist at the Spectator magazine.
Liddle went on to present a programme about infidelity, arguing that men are genetically pre-programmed to be unfaithful.
Known for his controversial views, Liddle sparked multiple accusations of misogyny and racism with his columns in The Spectator.
The magazine was prosecuted in 2012 for breaching a court order over an article written by Liddle during the trial of Stephen Lawrence’s killers.
The article claimed the two defendants would not get a fair trial.
The magazine paid a fine of £3,000 plus £2,000 in compensation after pleading guilty to breaching a court order during the case.
In 2019, Liddle used his column to suggest planning elections for a time when Muslims cannot vote.
He used the same column to apparently mock Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who spoke out about a previous abusive relationship she had while discussing domestic abuse legislation.
The MP paid tribute to Liddle in a post on X which read: “We just lost someone I would never in a million years have been expected to be friends with, or probably even to have made peace with.
“A larger than life ‘Marmite’ character, controversial, sometimes infuriating, but terribly witty, sharp and fun.”
