Camilla Tominey (born 14 June 1978) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and commentator. She is associate editor and executive editor of The Daily Telegraph. She also writes a weekly column for the newspaper and co-hosts The Daily T podcast with Kamal Ahmed. Since January 2023, she has presented The Camilla Tominey Show, a Sunday morning politics show on GB News.

Camilla Tominey
Born (1978-06-14) 14 June 1978 (age 46)
NationalityBritish
EducationSt Albans High School for Girls
Alma materUniversity of Leeds
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • broadcaster
  • commentator
Employer(s)The Telegraph
GB News
Spouse
Dominic
(m. 2005)
Children3

Early life

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Tominey was born on 14 June 1978.[1][2] Her father was a Catholic and worked as a general practitioner,[3] running the local practice.[1] Her mother Lynne (1947–2001)[3][4] was a housewife.[5] Tominey's grandfather was in the Royal Navy.[4] She has two older brothers.[3] She was brought up in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, and educated at Roundwood JMI School, followed by the independent St Albans High School for Girls from the age of seven. Her parents divorced and she went to live with her mother.[5]

Tominey has commented that her mother suffered from alcoholism and that "there was a degree [...] of physical and mental abuse" with regard to her period living with her. Tominey later moved back to live with her father and brothers.[1] She has described her stepmother Bernice (died 2024) as a "devoted second mother" to her and her siblings.[6] Tominey studied law at the University of Leeds.[5] She has said that she never planned to be a royal reporter,[7] but did aspire to be a journalist.[8]

Career

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Tominey was offered a traineeship at the Hemel Hempstead Gazette by the then editor.[8] Within two years at the newspaper she had qualified as a senior journalist. After contacting the Sunday Express and asking for shifts, she left the Hemel Hempstead Gazette and joined the Sunday Express. She was offered the opportunity to report on the British royal family by Sunday Express editor Martin Townsend.[9] She began her career as a royal reporter in 2005 when she covered the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.[10]

At the Sunday Express she worked in several roles concurrently, firstly as royal editor and deputy political editor, and then as royal editor, political editor and a columnist.[11] Press Gazette journalist Dominic Ponsford said this was "a reflection of tight budgets on the title".[12] She joined NBC News in 2010[10] and co-hosted its coverage of the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton from outside Buckingham Palace alongside Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, Andrew Roberts and Martin Bashir.[11] Tominey's scoops have included her 2013 report of Prince Andrew being held at gunpoint by guards at Buckingham Palace.[10] She broke the news of Prince Harry's relationship with Meghan Markle in an article in the Sunday Express on 31 October 2016.[7] The article was nominated for the Scoop of the Year award at the British Press Awards. Tominey covered Prince Harry and Markle's wedding, again for NBC News.[11]

Tominey moved to The Telegraph as associate editor (politics and royals) in 2018.[12] She has been described as holding pro-Brexit views.[11] On 1 May 2021, she began writing a weekly Telegraph column.[13] In June 2021, after misquoting Meghan Markle on a TV programme, she stated that she had received abuse on Twitter and via email, which resulted in Twitter and the police taking action.[14]

On 1 July 2021, it was announced that Tominey would commence a Sunday afternoon show on call-in radio station LBC.[15][16] The show, which ran from 4 pm to 7 pm, began on 4 July.[15] On 18 August 2022, it was reported she would leave LBC and join GB News as a political presenter.[17] Since January 2023, she has presented The Camilla Tominey Show, a weekly political interview show[12] from 9:30 am to 11 am[18] on Sundays on the channel.[12]

In 2023 the New Statesman named Tominey as the 49th most influential right-wing figure in British politics.[19] In April 2024, she became The Telegraph's executive editor, and co-host of The Daily T podcast with Kamal Ahmed.[20]

Tominey is a patron of the National Association for Children of Alcoholics[21] and the Peace Hospice.[22] She is a contributor to ITV's This Morning, and has appeared on the BBC's Any Questions? and Question Time.[10]

Personal life

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Tominey married Dominic, a commercial manager, in 2005.[8] She lives in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with her husband, two daughters and a son.[5][23] She is a teetotaller.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Gordon, Bryony (18 October 2021). "Camilla Tominey". Bryony Gordon's Mad World (Podcast). Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  2. ^ Courea, Eleni (14 June 2022). "London Playbook: Legal challenges galore — A load of Geidt — Fresh CCHQ attack". POLITICO. Retrieved 14 June 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d Tominey, Camilla (20 November 2018). "What it's like being raised by an alcoholic mother". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Tominey, Camilla [@CamillaTominey] (16 April 2020). "I thought I'd share that my late mother, born in 1947, was called Lynne because her mother was called Vera. My grandfather was in the Royal Navy" (Tweet). Retrieved 15 March 2022 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ a b c d Stewart, Clemmie; Kell, Emma (21 October 2019). "1: Camilla Tominey". The Clem & Em podcast (Podcast). Spotify. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  6. ^ Tominey, Camilla [@CamillaTominey] (9 November 2024). "For me, that person was my stepmother Bernice who was the most loving wife to my darling Dad, a devoted second mother to me and my two brothers and truly adored by her six grandchildren" (Tweet). Retrieved 14 November 2024 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ a b Tominey, Camilla (27 March 2021). "Harry, Meghan and me: my truth as a royal reporter". The Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  8. ^ a b c Johnson, Rachel (7 June 2021). "8. Camilla Tominey". Rachel Johnson's Difficult Women (Podcast). Global. Archived from the original on 12 June 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  9. ^ Balls, Katy (31 December 2021). "The Camilla Tominey Edition". Women with Balls (Podcast). Press Holdings. Retrieved 15 March 2022.
  10. ^ a b c d "Camilla Tominey". Knight Ayton. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d Blanchard, Paul (21 November 2019). "Camilla Tominey - Associate Editor, Daily Telegraph". Media Masters (Podcast). Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  12. ^ a b c d Ponsford, Dominic (20 January 2023). "Camilla Tominey: 'There's no anti-Meghan bias, we need to inform the readers'". Press Gazette. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  13. ^ Tominey, Camilla [@CamillaTominey] (30 April 2021). "I have got a new weekly @Telegraph column starting TOMORROW!" (Tweet). Retrieved 1 May 2021 – via Twitter.
  14. ^ Tominey, Camilla (26 June 2021). "Twitter abuse left me shaken, but defiant". The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Camilla Tominey joins LBC with new Sunday afternoon show". LBC. Global. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  16. ^ "Journalist Camilla Tominey gets a weekend radio show on LBC". RadioToday. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  17. ^ Woods, Ben (18 August 2022). "Discovery offloads GB News stake as channel builds £60m war chest". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
  18. ^ Tominey, Camilla. "Camilla Tominey". X. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  19. ^ "The New Statesman's right power list". New Statesman. 27 September 2023. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  20. ^ "Brand new daily podcast to be launched by The Telegraph". PodcastingToday. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
  21. ^ "Camilla Tominey appointed Nacoa patron". Nacoa. 3 July 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  22. ^ "About Us". Peace Hospice Care. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  23. ^ Sheldon, Liberty (25 May 2022). "ITV This Morning's Camilla Tominey's quiet life in Hertfordshire and becoming a renowned royal reporter". HertsLive. Retrieved 30 May 2022.
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