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Michael Lawrence Crick (born 21 May 1958) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He was a founding member of the ''

Channel 4 News ''Channel 4 News'' is the main news programme on British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since Channel 4's launch in November 1982. Current productions ''Channel 4 News'' ''Channel 4 News'' ...

'' Team in 1982 and remained there until joining the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

in 1990.Ian Burrel
"Michael Crick: 'Cuts are hurting Newsnight. The BBC lacks can-do spirit'"
''The Independent'' website, 19 September 2011. Retrieved on 24 September 2011. He started work on the BBC's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

'' programme in 1992, serving as political editor from 2007 until his departure from the BBC in 2011. Crick then returned to ''Channel 4 News'' as political correspondent. In 2014 he was chosen as Specialist Journalist of the Year at the

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

television journalism awards.

Early life

Crick was born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, the eldest child of teachers John Crick and Patricia Wright, and brother to triplets Catherine, Anne and Beatrice. He was educated at the

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) in Manchester, England, is the largest independent school (UK), independent day school for boys in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1515 as a Grammar school#free tuition, free grammar school next to Manchester C ...

(then a

direct grant grammar school A direct grant grammar school was a type of selective secondary school in the United Kingdom that existed between 1945 and 1976. One quarter of the places in these schools were directly funded by central government, while the remainder attracted ...

) and in 1975 was a member of the winning school team in the

English Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organistation. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages and cultures, by building skill ...

Public Speaking Competition. Crick joined the Labour Party at the age of 15, and while revising for his A-levels, he worked as election agent for the party's candidate Gerard Collier (later Lord Monkswell).Matt Well
"The Guardian profile: Michael Crick"
''The Guardian'' (London), 17 October 2003 Crick then studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) at

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, and graduated with a

first class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree. At Oxford, he was editor of the student newspaper, '' Cherwell''; founded both the Oxford Handbook and the Oxbridge Careers Handbook; chaired the Democratic Labour Club; and was president of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

in Michaelmas Term 1979, succeeding

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

's future husband

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

Career

Crick started work at ITN as a trainee journalist in 1980. He was a founding member of the ''

'' team when the programme was launched in November 1982. During his period as their

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

correspondent (1988–1990) Crick won an award from the

for his coverage of the 1988 Presidential election between

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

and

Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...

. Crick's first book, a study of the

Militant tendency , native_name_lang = cy , logo = , colorcode = , leader = collective leadership(''Militant'' editorial board) , leader1_name = Ted Grant , leader1_title = Political Secretary , leader2_name = Pet ...

, ran to two editions, published by Faber in 1984 and 1986. ''Scargill and the Miners'' was published by Penguin in 1985. In 1990, the Labour Party gave Crick the opportunity to contest the

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

, but he turned down the offer. He also served as chair of the

Young Fabians The Young Fabians is the under age 31 section of the Fabian Society, a socialist society in the United Kingdom that is affiliated to the Labour Party. The Young Fabians operate as a membership-driven think tank that organises policy debates, r ...

from 1980 to 1981.

Joins the BBC

Crick joined the BBC in 1990, initially appearing on ''

Panorama A panorama (formed from Greek πᾶν "all" + ὅραμα "view") is any wide-angle view or representation of a physical space, whether in painting, drawing, photography, film, seismic images, or 3D modeling. The word was originally coined in ...

'', becoming a regular reporter on

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''Newsnight'' in 1992. ''

Jeffrey Archer Jeffrey Howard Archer, Baron Archer of Weston-super-Mare (born 15 April 1940) is an English novelist, life peer, convicted criminal, and former politician. Before becoming an author, Archer was a Member of Parliament (1969–1974), but did not ...

: Stranger Than Fiction'', his

unauthorised biography An unauthorized biography is a biography written without the subject's permission or input. The term is usually restricted to biographies written within the subject's lifetime or shortly after their death; as such, it is not applied to biographi ...

of the novelist and former politician, appeared in its first edition during 1995.Michael Cric
"Tracking Jeffrey Archer"
BBC News, ''Panorama'', 19 July 2001 Crick has investigated other politicians too, and has written unofficial biographies of several public figures. When

Mark Mardell Mark Mardell (born 10 September 1957, Hillingdon, Middlesex, England) is a British journalist, formerly the presenter of '' The World This Weekend'' on BBC Radio 4. He had previously served as BBC News's Europe editor, and provided coverage for e ...

interviewed Archer for ''Newsnight'' in 1999 during his campaign to be elected mayor of London, Archer levelled, on camera, the following apparent threat at Crick: "You wait till I'm Mayor. You'll find out how tough I am." In 2002, Crick won an RTS Award for his ''Panorama'' programme "Jeffrey Archer: A Life of Lies" broadcast after Archer's conviction for perjury the previous July. After the Archer documentary, Crick began work on his biography of

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...

which was published in 2002. Reporting "utterly misplaced" speculation that Crick would not be objective because of his lifelong support of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Leo McKinstry Leo McKinstry (born 1962) is a British journalist, historian and author. Life and career Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, McKinstry was educated at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, and Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated wit ...

wrote for the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' that Ferguson "has found a worthy, if hardly compliant, biographer".

'Betsygate' and later stories

In 2003, under heavy pressure during the

Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the controversial circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and f ...

, the BBC refused to show Crick's report for ''Newsnight'' into ' Betsygate'. These claims involved the alleged misuse of public funds by the private office of former

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

leader

Iain Duncan Smith Sir George Iain Duncan Smith (born George Ian Duncan Smith; 9 April 1954), often referred to by his initials IDS, is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003. He was S ...

and supposed payments to his wife Betsy for work she did not do. Crick had begun to investigate these claims in the Spring after a tip-off from a Conservative insider with knowledge of Duncan Smith's office. Crick referred the case to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Sir Philip Mawer and the Duncan Smiths were largely cleared of any impropriety.James Silve
"A professional troublemaker"
''The Guardian'' (London), 2 April 2007. Retrieved on 2 April 2007. Crick himself later said that he had been wrong to enter the "political arena" by referring the case to Mawer. A biography, ''In Search of

Michael Howard Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne (born Michael Hecht; 7 July 1941) is a British politician who served as Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005. He previously held cabinet posi ...

'', was published just before the 2005 general election.

Simon Heffer Simon James Heffer (born 18 July 1960) is an English historian, journalist, author and political commentator. He has published several biographies and a series of books on the social history of Great Britain from the mid-nineteenth century unti ...

in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' wrote that "it is thorough and well-researched, in some respects exceptionally so". In that year's election, it was observed that the five most terrifying words in the political lexicon were "Michael Crick is in reception". Crick was appointed ''Newsnight''s political editor in March 2007 in succession to

Martha Kearney Martha Catherine Kearney (born 8 October 1957) is a British-Irish journalist and broadcaster. She was the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's lunchtime news programme ''The World at One'' for 11 years, and in April 2018 became a presenter of the ear ...

. "We're very lucky in the freedoms that we have on Newsnight to express ourselves as individuals. We are allowed to do our own thing", he said of the programme at the time. He broke the story in June 2008 concerning

Caroline Spelman Dame Caroline Alice Spelman (' Cormack; born 4 May 1958) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Meriden in the West Midlands from 1997 to 2019. From May 2010 to September 2012 she was the Sec ...

's misuse of her parliamentary staffing allowance which she was found to have used to pay her nanny.

Leaving ''Newsnight'' and after

In July 2011, it was announced that Crick was returning to Channel 4 News as political correspondent, replacing

Cathy Newman Catherine Elizabeth Newman (born 14 July 1974)Campbell, Lisa (20 October 2011)"Cathy Newman, C4 News" ''Broadcast''. . Newman's date of birth is given as "Bastille Day 1974". is an English journalist, and presenter of ''Channel 4 News''. She be ...

under political editor

Gary Gibbon Gary Gibbon (born 15 March 1965) is an English journalist. He has been the political editor of ''Channel 4 News'' since 2005. Previously, he had served as the programme's political correspondent since 1994. He has worked on four general electio ...

. He made his last appearance on ''Newsnight'' on 29 July 2011. He was replaced by Allegra Stratton. The following September, he said in an interview for ''The Independent'': "I was 19 years on Newsnight and 18 of them were extremely happy and then towards the end, about a year ago, they made it clear to me that they wanted me to stop being the political editor and do another job, which was ill-defined." The journalist

Nick Cohen Nicholas Cohen (born 1961) is a British journalist, author and political commentator. He was a columnist for ''The Observer'' and a blogger for ''The Spectator''. Following accusations of sexual harassment, he left The Observer in 2022 and bega ...

, in appraising ''Newsnight'' and BBC practices shortly after the departure of Crick and other journalists, wrote that "Crick adheres instead to the honourable belief that the job of the reporter is to create as much trouble as possible. He lives by his creed by bringing in scoop after scoop." Crick's revelation that the September 2012 '

Plebgate "Plebgate" (also known as "Plodgate" and "Gategate") was a British political scandal which started in September 2012. The trigger was an altercation between Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell and police officers on duty outside Downing Street. ...

' scandal was based on entirely fictitious evidence was the subject of a '' Dispatches'' programme in December 2012. The false accusations made against (then) Conservative chief whip

Andrew Mitchell Andrew John Bower Mitchell (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. A member of the Conservative Party, Mitchell was previously the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 199 ...

resulted in Mitchell resigning, and Crick found evidence of collusion by the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. In Summer 2013, he reported that a file on the Conservative politician

Michael Mates Michael John Mates (born 9 June 1934) is a Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of East Hampshire from 1974 to 2010. He was a minister at the Northern Ireland Office from 1992 to 1993, resignin ...

had been sent to the

Crown Prosecution Service The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is the principal public agency for conducting criminal prosecutions in England and Wales. It is headed by the Director of Public Prosecutions. The main responsibilities of the CPS are to provide legal adv ...

concerning alleged offences committed during his candidacy in the Police and Crime Commissioner elections in 2012 for the post in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Crick’s investigations on behalf of Channel 4 into violations of electoral law in the South Thanet constituency during the 2017 general election resulted in the conviction of the Conservative Party regional organiser in 2019 of serious breaches of illegal spending. One consequence of his investigations has been a tightening of electoral law to prevent local candidates from using profiles of national figures in their literature. The costs of national figures supporting local candidates must be declared within local party expenditure accounts. In April 2019, Crick announced he had retired from Channel 4 and ITN, stating that he was "looking forward to an exciting new life writing books again, and all sorts of other activity in journalism and other fields." He has since joined Mail Plus. In June 2022 Michael launched a twitter account called Tomorrow's MPs documenting the election process of parties in the runup to the next general election hoping to shed light. Since then Crick has documented several seats and raised issues about the way parties conduct their election process. This account currently has 20.4k followers

Personal life

Crick lives in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, south London, with his partner Lucy Hetherington, an executive TV producer who has managed documentaries and current affairs programmes. She is the daughter of former ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

'' editor

Alastair Hetherington Hector Alastair Hetherington (31 October 1919 – 3 October 1999) was a British journalist, newspaper editor and academic. For nearly twenty years he was the editor of ''The Guardian'', and is regarded as one of the leading editors of the secon ...

. They have a daughter, Isabel, born in 2006. He also has an older daughter, Catherine, born in 1987, from his former marriage to Margaret Crick, who was his wife from 1985 to 2008. Margaret was a former TV presenter who published a

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

's wife

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

in 2005. A keen supporter of

, he has written several books on the team as well as his political works. In 1998–99 he was the organiser of the Shareholders United Against

Murdoch Murdoch ( , ) is an Irish/Scottish given name, as well as a surname. The name is derived from old Gaelic words ''mur'', meaning "sea" and ''murchadh'', meaning "sea warrior". The following is a list of notable people or entities with the name. ...

campaign which successfully opposed the proposed takeover of United by

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

. He later served as Vice-Chairman of

Shareholders United Manchester United Supporters' Trust (formerly Shareholders United) is the official supporters' trust of Manchester United F.C., as recognised by Supporters Direct. The group, like other supporters' trusts, seeks to strengthen the influence of su ...

. "The BBC weren't very pleased" at his involvement, he said in 2007. Since 2012 Crick has been a lay member of the board of governors of the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

, and he also sits on the board of

Manchester University Press Manchester University Press is the university press of the University of Manchester, England and a publisher of academic books and journals. Manchester University Press has developed into an international publisher. It maintains its links with th ...

Books

*''The March of

Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Latin " ...

'' (Faber 1984, 1986, 2016). *'' Scargill And The Miners'' (1985). *''

: The Betrayal of a Legend'' (with David Smith, 1989). *''

: Stranger Than Fiction'' (1995). *''Manchester United: The Complete Fact Book'' (1999). *''

Michael Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served a ...

: A Biography'' (1997). *''The Boss: The Many Sides of

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

'' (2002). *''In Search of

'' (2005). *''Sultan of Swing: The Life of David Butler'' (2018). *''One Party After Another: The Disruptive Life of

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was List of UK Independence Party leaders, Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Brexit Party#Leaders, Lea ...

'' (2022)

References

External links

Michael Crick on Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crick, Michael Living people 1958 births Alumni of New College, Oxford BBC newsreaders and journalists ITN newsreaders and journalists English political journalists People educated at Manchester Grammar School People from Northampton Presidents of the Oxford Union Labour Party (UK) people Channel 4 people