Background
Wadley was born in Chelsea and educated at the independent Francis Holland School in central London and at Benenden School in Kent.
Wadley was born in Chelsea and educated at the independent Francis Holland School in central London and at Benenden School in Kent.
Benenden School.
She was the first female editor of the paper. After Alexander Lebedev acquired the Standard in 2009, he replaced her with former Tatler editor Geordie Greig. She was employed by Condé Nast (1971-1974), working on Vogue, and subsequently the staff of The Telegraph colour magazine (1978-1981) and the Mail on Sunday for five years before rejoining The Daily Telegraph in 1986, being appointed assistant editor in 1989.
She has also worked on the Daily Mail.
During her time at the Standard, the newspaper was particularly critical of the then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone. This came to a head in the run-up to the 2008 London mayoral election, in which Wadley"s newspaper aggressively attacked Livingstone each day.
According to articles in The Guardian and Time Out London, she was strongly influenced by the need to renew Associated Newspaper"s multi-million pound contract to deliver the Metro free paper in London Underground stations in 2010, a decision within the gift of the Mayor. A few months after Wadley left the Standard, the publication launched its "Sorry" promotion.
"London is laughing at this ludicrous campaign", she claimed.The Guardian reported "The market research evidently discovered that Londoners considered the Standard to be too negative, not celebratory enough and guilty of failing to cater for the capital"s needs.
A great city with great facilities was being persistently talked down."
On 7 October 2009, it emerged that Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw had rejected London Mayor Boris Johnson"s choice of Wadley as head of the London Arts Council. Bradshaw had been advised that the appointment broke rules established by the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The Daily Telegraph reported on the 23 October that Johnson anticipated the rerun of the selection process would still result in Wadley gaining the post.
Wadley applied again.
In June 2010 she was appointed to the £6,400 30 day (maximum) a year job. She also has two stepsons from her husband"s first marriage.