Background
Hodges is the son of the retired Labour Member of Parliament and former actress Glenda Jackson and her then husband Roy Hodges.
Hodges is the son of the retired Labour Member of Parliament and former actress Glenda Jackson and her then husband Roy Hodges.
He regularly writes a column for The Daily Telegraph and in 2013 was described by James Forsyth in The Spectator as David Cameron"s "new favourite columnist". In the last twenty years, Hodges has worked as a parliamentary researcher, a Labour Party official, General and Municipal Boilermakers Union official, and as director of communications for Transport for London under Ken Livingstone. He has been a journalist and a blogger writing for The Guardian, the New Statesman, The Daily Telegraph, The Times and Labour Uncut.
He supported David Miliband in the 2010 Labour leadership contest and was very critical of Editor Miliband.
He also worked for the successful Number to AV campaign in 2011.
In 2014, Hodges declared his support for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections because of party leader Nick Clegg"s stand against UKIP but supported Labour for the local elections.
Hodges describes himself as a "tribal neo-Blairite" and was a vocal critic of the former Labour Party leader Editor Miliband, as well as the current Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. He quit the Labour Party of which he was a member for 27 years, but subsequently re-joined. In May 2012, although he was then a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Hodges voted for the Conservative Boris Johnson in the London Mayoral elections, lauding him as a "unifying figure" over Ken Livingstone whom he saw as "divisive" and "a disgrace", adding that "London needs someone who can speak for all of London, not just the balkanized segments whose votes he craves".
However, he still voted for Labour London Assembly candidates.
In August 2013, Hodges expressed strong approval for David Cameron"s administration ordering the border detention of David Miranda, the spouse of journalist Glenn Greenwald, under the Terrorism Acting, who despite not being under suspicion of planning terroristic acts, was found to be carrying an external hard drive containing 58,000 highly classified United Kingdom intelligence documents, and whose detention was subsequently ruled lawful by the United Kingdom High Court, which accepted that Miranda"s detention and the seizure of computer material was "an indirect interference with press freedom" but said this was justified by legitimate and "very pressing" interests of national security.
Hodges expressed support for the government suppressing whistleblowers spreading "information highly detrimental to the United Kingdom national interest". Following the House of Commons vote on 29 August 2013 against possible military involvement in the Syrian civil war, and objecting to Editor Miliband"s conduct, Hodges left the Labour Party. In 2014, Hodges declared his support for the Liberal Democrats in the European elections because of party leader Nick Clegg"s stand against UKIP but supported Labour for the local elections.
He rejoined the Labour Party in July 2015. He resigned from the Labour Party a second time in December 2015. In 2014, Hodges co-founded the Migration Matters Trust, a pro-immigration pressure group chaired by Barbara Roche, Lord Dholakia and Nadhim Zahawi and run by Atul Hatwal.
Hodges is also a wargame designer. His first game design was Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic which is about the Falklands War.
In November 2015 Hodge"s first book, One Minute To Ten, was published by Penguin Books. lieutenant focuses on the three party leaders Cameron, Miliband, and Clegg, and the effect the 2015 general election had on their lives.
He supported Jon Cruddas in the 2007 deputy leadership election as a member of Compass, but has since been critical of the organisation. In May 2012, although he was then a long-standing member of the Labour Party, Hodges voted for the Conservative Boris Johnson in the London Mayoral elections, lauding him as a "unifying figure" over Ken Livingstone whom he saw as "divisive" and "a disgrace", adding that "London needs someone who can speak for all of London, not just the balkanized segments whose votes he craves".