Melanie Phillips

Melanie Phillips (born 4 June 1951) is an English public commentator. She began her career writing for The Guardian and New Statesman. She currently writes for The Times, The Jerusalem Post, the Jewish News Syndicate, and The Jewish Chronicle, covering political and social issues from a socially conservative Zionist perspective. During the 1990s, critics alleged that Phillips became increasingly associated with right-wing politics and the far-right, and her work has been linked by some commentators to the Eurabia conspiracy theory. Phillips and her supporters have disputed these characterisations, describing her views as stemming from consistent concern for social policy and extremism. She has stated: "I haven't changed. I am still fighting for what I perceive to be truth, justice and a concern for the vulnerable." Others, in 2003, pointed to her long career across a range of publications and her receipt of the Orwell Prize as evidence that her views are not easily categorised. Phillips has also described herself, quoting the prominent neoconservative Irving Kristol, as a "liberal who has been mugged by reality". Phillips has appeared as a panellist on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Moral Maze and BBC One's Question Time. She was awarded the Orwell Prize for Journalism in 1996, while she was writing for The Observer. Her books include the memoir Guardian Angel: My Story, My Britain.