Gloria De Piero
GMTV’s Political Correspondent, Gloria De Piero,
studied A levels at Bradford & Ilkley Community
College and was elected President of the Students’
Union for a year in 1991.
While millions of GMTV viewers watch Gloria’s
analysis of the latest political events and see
her interviewing politicians each morning, few
realise that she started asking MPs searching
questions back in January 1992, as a student
during the run up to the General Election.
As President of the College’s Student Union,
representing 32,000 members, Gloria sent a
10 page questionnaire to each prospective
parliamentary candidate for a Bradford seat.
She urged students to use their vote, telling
them “All the major political parties have
education on their political agendas and they
don’t want to lose the potentially hundreds
of thousands of student votes. We can make
a difference if we get more MPs in parliament
who will defend education.”
She later launched a Student Rights Charter
outside Bradford City Hall, calling for an end to
loans and the restoration of the right to claim
benefits. “As you can see from my current job, I have a
bit of a passion for politics. It was a passion
that began at Bradford College through my
involvement with the Students’ Union. Though
I really ought to have worked a bit harder on
my A levels, the experience I got in so many
other areas more than made up for that. From
Bradford I went on to university in Birmingham
but still kept up the politics. And after my
studies, my passion became my full time job.”
After gaining a Masters degree in London
she became a researcher for ITV’s Jonathan
Dimbleby programme in 1997. Moving to
the BBC she worked on a number of political
programmes: On the Record, The Politics Show and Radio 4’s Westminster Hour. She became
GMTV’s Political Correspondent in 2003.
“Bradford College was a great launch pad for
all that I’ve done and 17 years on I still have
friends that I met there.”
Photograph supplied by GMTV