Wheatcroft started work in publishing in 1968, working for
Hamish Hamilton (1968–70),
Michael Joseph (1971–1973), and
Cassell & Co (1974–1975). In 1975, he became the assistant editor of
The Spectator, moving to the post of literary editor, which he occupied from 1977 to 1981. During the 1981–1984 period, he worked as a reporter in South Africa before becoming editor of the
Londoner's Diary gossip column in the London
Evening Standard in 1985–1986. He was a
Sunday Telegraph columnist in 1987–1991 and freelance 1993–1996, feature writer on the
Daily Express, 1996–1997, and has since written for
The Guardian,
The Times Literary Supplement,
The New York Review of Books,
The New Republic, the
Boston Globe,
The Atlantic,
The American Conservative, and other publications on both sides of the Atlantic. His book
The Controversy of Zion won a 1996
National Jewish Book Award. His 2021 biography of
Winston Churchill was described by conservative historian
Andrew Roberts in
The Spectator as a "character assassination"; in
The New York Times,
Peter Baker wrote: "They are, of course, taking different views of the same man. Roberts's book was described in these pages as the best single-volume biography of Churchill yet written. Wheatcroft's could be the best single-volume indictment of Churchill yet written." == Marriage and family ==