David Blair

David Joseph Blair

Early life and education Blair graduated from St Benet's Hall, Oxford, He later attended Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, taking a M.Phil. in International Relations. In 1994, Blair represented Oxford at the grand final of the World Universities Debating Championship with Rufus Black.

Although born in Malawi, Blair is a British citizen. He is not related to the former British prime minister, Tony Blair.

Career in journalism Blair began working for The Daily Telegraph in Zimbabwe in 1999. He was forced to leave the country by President Robert Mugabe's regime in June 2001. Blair later published a book about his experiences Degrees in Violence: Robert Mugabe and the Struggle for Power in Zimbabwe. He was named Young Journalist of the Year in 2001 by the Foreign Press Association for his coverage of Zimbabwe.

Thereafter, he was based in Pakistan (2002–2003) and the Middle East (2003–2004). He was among the first journalists to enter Jenin Refugee Camp in the West Bank after the controversial Israeli assault in April 2002. Blair's front-page report on the Palestinian suffering caused by this attack, headlined "Blasted to Rubble by the Israelis", attracted considerable attention as The Daily Telegraph had always been perceived as favourable to Israel.

Blair reported extensively from Iraq before and after the American-led 2003 invasion of Iraq. At the height of the looting in Baghdad in April 2003, Blair entered Saddam Hussein's old foreign ministry and found documents purporting to show that George Galloway, then a member of parliament, had received money from the deposed regime. Galloway won the case in November 2004 and the newspaper paid him damages of £150,000 plus, after a failed appeal, legal costs of about £2 million. The Daily Telegraph did not attempt to claim justification (where the defendant seeks to prove the truth of the defamatory reports): "It has never been the Telegraph's case to suggest that the allegations contained in these documents are true". Instead, the paper sought to argue that it acted responsibly because the allegations it reported were of sufficient public interest to outweigh the damage caused to Galloway's reputation. However the trial judge did not accept this defence saying the suggestion that Galloway was guilty of "treason", "in Saddam's pay", and being "Saddam's little helper" caused him to conclude "the newspaper was not neutral but both embraced the allegations with relish and fervour and went on to embellish them".

In November 2011 Blair returned to The Daily Telegraph as chief foreign correspondent.