Editing Matthew Parris (section)

==Writing and journalism==

Parris is a prolific writer and has written many books on politics and travel. In 1991, a compilation of his pieces in ''[[The Times]]'' appeared, entitled ''So Far, So Good''. Since then there have been further compilations. ''Scorn'', a book he has edited of quotations about curses, jibes and general invective, was published in October 1994. He has achieved continuing success as a parliamentary reporter and columnist through his knowledge and understanding of politicians and ability to write well about them. He worked as [[parliamentary sketch writing|parliamentary sketch writer]] for ''The Times'' newspaper from 1988 to 2001 and has had weekly columns in ''The Times'' and ''[[The Spectator]]'' magazine. In 2004, Parris became Writer of the Year in [[Granada Television]]'s ''[[What the Papers Say]]'' Awards. In part, this was for reporting on elections in Iraq and Afghanistan. His previous accolades include Columnist of the Year in the 1991 and 1993 [[British Press Awards]], and in the ''What the Papers Say'' Awards 1992. In 1990 he received the [[London Press Club]]'s [[Edgar Wallace]] Outstanding Reporter of the Year Award.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In 2002, his autobiography, ''Chance Witness: An Outsider's Life in Politics'', was published by Viking. In 2005, he published ''A Castle in Spain'' about his family's project to refurbish a derelict sixteenth-century mansion, L'Avenc, in [[Catalonia]], close to the foothills of the [[Pyrenees]], and make his home there.{{citation needed|date=November 2023}}

In 2011, ''[[Total Politics]]'' said that Parris's column "is considered essential reading by many in [[Westminster]]. He has a penchant for holding opinions that go against the grain. Parris has written scathingly about the [[localism (politics)|localism]] agenda, and was a long-time defender of [[PMQs]], although he recently changed his mind."<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/277577/top-100-political-journalists-2011.thtml |title=Top 100 political journalists 2011 |work=Total Politics |location= London |access-date=25 February 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140301171422/http://www.totalpolitics.com/articles/277577/top-100-political-journalists-2011.thtml |archive-date=1 March 2014 }}</ref>

Parris's writing has often attracted wider comment. For example, in a 2007 article in ''The Times'' he wrote a satirical article which stated, "A festive custom we could do worse than foster would be stringing piano wire across country lanes to decapitate cyclists",<ref name=T>{{cite news |title=What's smug and deserves to be decapitated? Matthew Parris: My Week |date=27 December 2007 |url= https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/matthewparris/article2044185.ece |access-date=18 January 2016 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location= London}}</ref><ref name=B>{{cite news |work=BBC News |date=3 January 2008 |title= Cycling fury at beheading 'joke' |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7168530.stm}}</ref> which attracted two hundred letters to the Press Complaints Commission.<ref>[https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/file_member/200803014.pdf Cyclinguk.org] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118214959/https://www.cyclinguk.org/sites/default/files/file_member/200803014.pdf |date=18 January 2017 }} Retrieved 18 January 2016</ref> Parris issued an apology: "I offended many with my Christmas attack on cyclists. It was meant humorously but so many cyclists have taken it seriously that I plainly misjudged. I am sorry."<ref name=T/><ref name=B/> In the same year [[Alastair Campbell]] called Parris "a little shit" in his diaries, to which Parris responded "I'd rather be a little shit than a big cunt".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Burkeman|first1=Oliver|title=Does he mean me?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/jul/10/media.pressandpublishing|work=The Guardian|date=10 July 2007}}</ref>

In the run-up to the [[2014 Clacton by-election]], Parris visited the [[Essex]] town and wrote a column suggesting that the Conservatives should dismiss its voters' views: "[[Clacton-on-Sea]] is going nowhere. Its voters are going nowhere, it's rather sad, and there's nothing more to say. This is Britain on crutches. This is tracksuit-and-trainers Britain, tattoo-parlour Britain, all-our-yesterdays Britain. [...] I am not arguing that we should be careless of the needs of struggling people and places such as Clacton. But I am arguing — if I am honest — that we should be careless of their opinions." The ''[[Clacton Gazette]]'' reported on residents responding angrily to his "derogatory comments". [[Douglas Carswell]], the sitting Conservative MP who had defected to the [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP), responded, "It's incredibly sad to read what Matthew Parris wrote.  He's a close friend of the Tory leadership and this is clearly how the party hierarchy thinks. I'm proud of Clacton and I'm proud of Clacton people." Writing in ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', academics [[Robert Ford (academic)|Rob Ford]] and [[Matthew Goodwin]] noted of Parris's prognosis that "while it may play well at dinner parties in SW1 in the short-term, it is a recipe for electoral suicide." They also observed that UKIP party leader [[Nigel Farage]] had "already put Parris quotations" on the party's leaflets.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Parris |first=Matthew |date=2014-09-06 |title=Tories should turn their backs on Clacton |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/tories-should-turn-their-backs-on-clacton-j0k5h6zld08 |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=[[The Times]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Residents' fury at former Tory MP's Clacton slur |url=https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/11460663.residents-fury-at-former-tory-mps-clacton-slur/ |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20210517214113/https://www.clactonandfrintongazette.co.uk/news/11460663.residents-fury-at-former-tory-mps-clacton-slur/ |archive-date=2021-05-17 |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=Clacton and Frinton Gazette |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ford |first=Rob |author-link=Robert Ford (academic) |last2=Goodwin |first2=Matthew |author-link2=Matthew Goodwin |date=2014-09-08 |title=The voters of Clacton don't deserve Matthew Parris's sneering contempt |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11082586/The-voters-of-Clacton-dont-deserve-Matthew-Parriss-sneering-contempt.html |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=[[Daily Telegraph]] |language=en}}</ref>

Parris criticised the initial [[2015 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|2015 leadership election]] for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], referring to recent rule changes that allowed any individual who donated £3 to the Labour Party to vote in the leadership elections.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Parris|first1=Matthew|title=My llamas paid their £3 to vote in Labour poll|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/my-llamas-paid-their-3-to-vote-in-labour-poll-vbzh0p9lf9b|work=[[The Times]]|date=19 August 2015}}</ref> Following [[2016 Labour Party leadership election (UK)|a second leadership election]], which incumbent leader [[Jeremy Corbyn]] won with an increased majority, [[Channel 4]] presenter [[Krishnan Guru-Murthy]] said that Parris and [[Michael Dobbs]] commented that Corbyn's reelection "will break the Labour Party".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Hopkins|first1=Steven|title=Corbyn Leadership Ballot Decision Will 'Break Labour'|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-corbyn-ballot-decision-will-break-labour-as-matthew-parris-and-michael-dobbs_uk_57853e4ce4b0e9f338cc4556|work=HuffPost|date=12 July 2016}}</ref>

A co-founder of the gay rights charity [[Stonewall (charity)|Stonewall]], Parris has criticised the organisation for latterly adopting [[trans rights]] as part of its agenda, writing that trans issues are unrelated to [[gay rights]] and should be for a separate organisation.<ref>{{cite web|last=Parris|first=Matthew|work=[[The Times]]|title=Stonewall should stay out of trans rights war|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4972efe4-ba6d-11eb-98e3-d1306649ebf7?shareToken=79fce127d57161fe024aeb52ef37551b|date=22 May 2021|access-date=25 May 2021|archive-date=22 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210522111321/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/4972efe4-ba6d-11eb-98e3-d1306649ebf7?shareToken=79fce127d57161fe024aeb52ef37551b|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In May 2021, Parris called for the removal of ethnic minority status from Gypsy, Roma and Travellers, describing them "not a race, but a doomed mindset" and called for "a gradual but relentless squeeze on anyone who tries without permission to park their home on public property or the property of others".<ref>{{cite news |last=Parris |first=Matthew |work=[[The Times]] |location= London |title=It's time we stopped pandering to Travellers |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/its-time-we-stopped-pandering-to-travellers-2slbdvbvp |date=22 May 2021 |access-date=15 May 2021}}</ref> The anti-racism group [[Hope not Hate]] responded to Parris saying "The Times have published an article advocating for eradicating the way of life of an entire ethnic minority. Absolutely shameful. Solidarity with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people who have to endure this racism, and this mindset."<ref>{{Cite tweet |user=hopenothate |author=Hope not Hate |number=1393484483974864900 |date = 15 May 2021 |title=The Times have published an article advocating for eradicating the way of life of an entire ethnic minority. Absolutely shameful. Solidarity with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people who have to endure this racism, and this mindset.}}</ref>

In June 2021, Parris argued there was "an absolute problem with human rights" and wrote a column whose "aim is to question the whole concept of fundamental human rights. It is so deeply flawed as to be fatal to all reasoning built upon it."<ref>{{cite news |last=Parris |first=Matthew |work=[[The Times]] |location= London |title=The absolute problem with human rights |url= https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/the-absolute-problem-with-human-rights-khp3ztv3f |date=26 June 2021 |access-date=26 June 2021}}</ref>

In his writing, Parris proved critical of several Conservative leaders. In June 2020 Parris wrote an excoriating article on [[Boris Johnson]] saying, "He never had any judgment or strategic vision. Mr Johnson was only ever a shallow opportunist with a minor talent to amuse".<ref>[[The Times]] "Comment" 6 June 2010: "Johnson has been tested and found wanting"</ref> In 2022, Parris described [[Liz Truss]] as  "a planet-sized mass of overconfidence and ambition teetering upon a pinhead of a political brain".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rentoul |first=John |date=20 August 2022 |title=Why Liz Truss could be a successful prime minister |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/liz-truss-conservative-prime-minister-leadership-race-b2149094.html |access-date=26 July 2024 |website=The Independent}}</ref>

In July 2024, a few weeks short of his 75th birthday, Parris stopped writing his long-running Saturday opinion column in ''The Times'',<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/matthew-parris-my-life-in-politics-boris-johnson-3h8cf6qj7 |title=Matthew Parris: my life in politics (I was right about Boris) |first=Matthew |last=Parris |date=19 July 2024 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |access-date=1 August 2024}}</ref> in which he mostly commented on British politics. He continues to write his diary column for the newspaper, which appears on Wednesdays.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/profile/matthew-parris |title=Matthew Parris |website=[[The Times]] |access-date=1 August 2024}}</ref>

===Travel writing===
Parris has made several expeditions abroad. They include [[Mount Kilimanjaro]] in 1967 and in 1989; [[Zaire]] (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1973; the Sahara in 1978; [[Peru]]; [[Bolivia]]. In 1990 he published ''Inca-Kola'' about his travels in Peru.

He spent the Antarctic winter of 2000 on the French possession of Grande Terre, part of the [[Kerguelen Islands|Kerguelen]] Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, with a few dozen over-winterers, mostly researchers. One of them was fatally shot in an accident during his stay, about which he wrote for ''The Times''.<ref>[http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/features/parris/ Matthew Parris's account of stay on Kerguelen in 2000], ''The Times'' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511163817/http://www.times-archive.co.uk/onlinespecials/features/parris/ |date=11 May 2008 }}</ref>