Michael Crick

London

Freelance Journalist and Writer at Freelance

Broadcaster/Writer; RTS Spec Jrnst of Year 2014 & 18. C Wheeler/BJR award 2018. Biographies of Archer, Ferguson, Heseltine, Butler, Farage. Editor @tomorrowsMPs

Articles

The woman who made Reform UK

1 month ago | dispatch-media.com | Michael Crick

Until a few days ago, Catherine Blaiklock’s X profile read like the opening lines of a political tragedy. First, the proud declaration: “Founder of The Brexit Party” — the political force now called Reform UK and led by Nigel Farage. And then, the bitter accusation: “Farage deliberately destroyed me.”Earlier this month, however, that second statement was deleted. Not, it seems, because Blaiklock has found forgiveness — but because she has discovered a more potent route to retribution.
15 bestselling books for 15 years of Biteback

Jul 23, 2024 | bitebackpublishing.com | Michael Ashcroft |Isabel Oakeshott |Kevin Meagher |Michael Crick

It’s July 2009. MPs have just been named and shamed in the expenses scandal; the UK has been plunged into a financial crisis; Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing internal challenges from the Labour Party; and the swine flu pandemic is raging through Britain. BUT, thankfully, Biteback Publishing has just been born!Six Prime Ministers and three referendums later, Biteback continues to break the publishing mould. Celebrate our 15th anniversary with some of our bestsellers from across the years.
15 bestselling books for 15 years of Biteback

Jul 23, 2024 | bitebackpublishing.com | Michael Ashcroft |Isabel Oakeshott |Kevin Meagher |Michael Crick

It’s July 2009. MPs have just been named and shamed in the expenses scandal; the UK has been plunged into a financial crisis; Prime Minister Gordon Brown is facing internal challenges from the Labour Party; and the swine flu pandemic is raging through Britain. BUT, thankfully, Biteback Publishing has just been born!Six Prime Ministers and three referendums later, Biteback continues to break the publishing mould. Celebrate our 15th anniversary with some of our bestsellers from across the years.
Who Is Nigel Farage's Girlfriend? Inside The New Reform UK Leader's Complicated Love Life - Evening Standard

Jun 4, 2024 | everand.com | Katie Strick |Andrew Liddle |Michael Crick |MaxHelp Workbooks

It would certainly make for a great political memoir one day: the story of a Frenchwoman’s climb from cocktail bar waitress to the front steps of Number 10.
Inside the Labour purge

May 30, 2024 | unherd.com | Michael Crick

2024 General ElectionKeir StarmerLabour PartyPoliticsTony BlairUK Diane Abbott, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Faiza Shaheen — within a matter of hours, all had fallen victim to the Starmerite machine. Led by campaign chief Morgan McSweeney and candidate supremo Matt Faulding, Keir Starmer’s inner circle have shown themselves to be more ruthless than any leadership team in Labour history. Jeremy Corbyn’s consiglieri were benign and amateur in comparison.
Keith Murdoch, the patriarch

May 15, 2024 | engelsbergideas.com | Michael Crick

There aren’t many 30-year olds who are credited with persuading a British cabinet to change its war strategy, and are seen to have humiliated one of the greatest men in British history. Yet that’s what happened to Keith Murdoch in 1915, and he became an Australian hero. Keith Arthur Murdoch is arguably an even more interesting figure than his more famous son Rupert, and it is fascinating to spot many of the same traits – not least as a political creature.
I lived Newsnight’s glory days. Now it’s being reduced to a chat show

May 11, 2024 | thetimes.co.uk | Michael Crick

One evening when he was Liberal Democrat leader, Nick Clegg went by BBC car to be grilled by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. “What are the worst three questions Paxman might ask?” Clegg asked the adviser accompanying him, and they agreed what they most needed to avoid. Listening carefully was Newsnight’s longserving driver Dave Murden, an outwardly quiet and unassuming man but also an astute observer of politics.
Will Jamie Driscoll beat Labour in the North East?

Apr 23, 2024 | unherd.com | Michael Crick

Keir StarmerLabour PartyNorth EastPoliticsUK It was a scene to bring back memories not just of the Jeremy Corbyn era, but the full-blooded Labour struggles of the Seventies and Eighties — a time when the unions terrified governments of both colours, and when the hard-Left still exercised raw muscle. Last Thursday evening, the once pro-Soviet Morning Star held a “readers meeting” in the lounge bar of the Tyneside Irish Centre, just opposite St James’s Park, the home of Newcastle United.
When Gaza came to Rochdale

Feb 12, 2024 | unherd.com | Michael Crick

GazaGeorge GallowayIsraelLabour PartyPoliticsRochdaleUK “From the river to the sea,” the familiar-hatted figure roars. “Palestine will be free,” his supporters chant in unison.
When Gaza came to Rochdale

Feb 12, 2024 | staging.unherd.com | Michael Crick

GazaGeorge GallowayIsraelLabour PartyPoliticsRochdaleUK “From the river to the sea,” the familiar-hatted figure roars. “Palestine will be free,” his supporters chant in unison.