Polly Toynbee

English journalist and writer · United Kingdom · On the map · Journalists · Born 1946 · age 79

Mary Louisa "Polly" Toynbee is a British journalist and writer. She has been a columnist for The Guardian newspaper since 1998.

Polly Toynbee is read about 90 times a day, in 8 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 19 September 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.

Something wrong?

Compare Claim

A life in dates

2024“By instinct, I like the French revolutionary tradition commanding absolute secularism in schools and state institutions.”In their words23 January 2024The GuardianRead the whole statement

2023“This is where the housing pressure-cooker explodes. This is Manchester's civil court, like others all across England, where people are made homeless, hundreds every day.”In their words15 December 2023The GuardianRead the whole statement

“As for Boris Johnson, I look back with a morbid incredulity at what that baby grew up to be.”In their wordsFrom an edited extract of An Uneasy Inheritance: My Family and Other Radicals (Atlantic Books, 2023), as reproduced in "Polly Toynbee: whatRead the whole statement

2021“The trouble with the monarchy is not that it is too powerful but that it is utterly useless. So much is spent on ceremonial trappings to disguise its inner nothingness.”In their words2021-presentRead the whole statement

2015“The Labour question is always the same - how far can you go and still bring enough voters with you?”In their words4 August 2015The GuardianRead the whole statement

2005“The underlying reason for remorseless social disadvantage remains a silent subject in Blair politics.”In their words2 September 2005The GuardianRead the whole statement

Honorary DoctorateAward1946Born27 December 1946

People around Polly

Family

Parents

Polly Toynbee

Partners

Late husband Peter Jenkins

Is this everyone?

Only relatives with a profile here are drawn, so a family can be larger than this. A line here can also be wrong.

Correct this family

Also in Deutsch Français

Media & music

Photos 2

Toynbee speaking to Policy Exchange in 2013

In their own words 4

Polly Toynbee

4 statements, newest first

[On the Bruges Group, informally a thinktank for the Conservatives] They spread Europhobia through their party until all candidates had to test positive for Brexit.
16 July 2024 · The Guardian, Own words
Here comes the coronation in a few weeks, not much changed since I was waving at the last one, pleading in vain for a Dinky Toy gold coach.
5 April 2023 · The Guardian, Own words
Dominic Cummings was brought in by Johnson to swing a wrecking ball at Whitehall, local councils, the BBC and anything that smelled of good government.
20 April 2020 · The Guardian, Own words