Jane Merrick (born 23 November 1973) is a British journalist who is currently the policy editor at the ''i'' newspaper. She was previously the political editor of ''

The Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' between 2008 and 2015. Merrick has also worked as a political correspondent for ''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

'' and the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

Early life

Merrick was born on 23 November 1973 in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. She grew up in the suburb of

Aigburth Aigburth () is a suburb of Liverpool, England. Located to the south of the city, it is bordered by Dingle, Garston, Mossley Hill, and Toxteth. Etymology The name Aigburth comes from Old Norse ''eik'' and ''berg'', meaning ''oak-tree hill''. T ...

and attended a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. Her parents were teachers who support the Labour Party. In interviews, Merrick has discussed how her mother was one of 31,000 council workers threatened with redundancy by

Derek Hatton Derek Anthony Hatton (born 17 January 1948) is a British former politician, later a broadcaster, property developer and businessman. He gained national prominence as deputy leader of Liverpool City Council in the 1980s and was a member of the Tr ...

and the Militant in Liverpool. She has two siblings. Merrick then studied at the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

Career

At the age of 19, Merrick set up a listings magazine called ''L:Scene'' during her gap year in 1993 which was her first job in journalism. She worked as a political correspondent for the

in Westminster between 2001 and 2003. She then worked for ''

'' as a political correspondent between 2003 and 2008. Merrick left the newspaper to become political editor for ''

'', a position she held till 2015 when she became a freelance journalist to spend more time with her daughter. She co-founded a daily news briefing email service called ''The Spoon'' which launched in 2017. She joined the Labour Party in 2016 to support

Angela Eagle Dame Angela Eagle DBE (born 17 February 1961) is a British Labour Party politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wallasey since 1992. Eagle was born in Yorkshire and studied PPE at the University of Oxford, before working for t ...

's bid to become leader in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. Merrick left Labour in 2018 due to

Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party from 2015 to 2020. On the political left of the Labour Party, Corbyn describes himself as a socialist ...

's leadership and their handling of

antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

within the party. In November 2017, then

Secretary of State for Defence The secretary of state for defence, also referred to as the defence secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the business of the Ministry of Defence. The incumbent is a membe ...

Michael Fallon Sir Michael Cathel Fallon (born 14 May 1952) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Defence from 2014 to 2017. A member of the Conservative Party, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sevenoaks from 1997 to 2019, h ...

resigned following Merrick's allegation of sexual harassment when she was a 29-year-old journalist for ''The Daily Mail'' in 2003. She had accused Fallon of lunging towards her. Merrick was highlighted in ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''s Person of the Year edition in the same year, which highlighted "The Silence Breakers" who spoke out against sexual harassment. Merrick was named in '' The House'' magazine list of 100 most inspirational women in Westminster in 2022.

Personal life

Merrick is in a relationship with

Toby Helm Toby Helm is a British journalist, and the political editor of ''The Observer''. He joined ''The Daily Telegraph'' in 1991 as an editor, and became Brussels correspondent in 1996. Between 1996 and 2002 he was the paper's Berlin correspondent, and in ...

who is the political editor of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

''. They have a daughter born in 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Merrick, Jane Living people 1973 births British women journalists