Mike Steele obituary
My father, Mike Steele, who has died aged 88, was a lobby correspondent and worked in the Houses of Parliament over a period of five decades.An Australian by birth, he joined the lobby in 1962, eight years after arriving in the UK.He began as a correspondent in the Commons for the Northcliffe group of provincial newspapers and then, after an interlude working in the Liberal party’s communications team, returned to report on parliamentary matters as a freelance for the Newspoint organisation, supplying stories for HTV Wales, the Leicester Mercury and Ulster Television.He also presented the BBC’s Politics West studio discussion and news interviews, and contributed diary items to the Evening Standard, Guardian, Telegraph and Times newspapers.Born in Adelaide, Mike was the son of William, a clerk, and Shirley (nee Morris), a barrister, but was raised in Perth, where he went to Guildford grammar school.
He came by ship to the UK in 1954 to study history and politics at the newly founded Keele University in Staffordshire.In his third year there, the Suez crisis led to the resignation of the UK prime minister Anthony Eden, and at the subsequent 1955 general election Mike recruited some fellow students to go to Eden’s Warwick and Leamington constituency to do a little survey, which he wrote up for the Birmingham Post as his first published article.It was after a spell on the Evening Sentinel in Stoke-on-Trent that he moved to London to begin working as a lobby correspondent, for Northcliffe.In 1966 he left that role to become the Liberal party’s chief press officer, but found the party’s leader, Jeremy Thorpe, a difficult boss and by 1972 was back in the lobby, becoming treasurer of the Parliamentary Press Gallery for a time and a non-tugging captain of its tug of war team.He finally retired in 2010.
Mike did not return to Australia until a holiday there in 1979, after which he immediately became a born-again Australian, going back nine times thereafter,A big fan of Australian Rules football, he also became a keen runner after watching the first London Marathon in 1981, subsequently completing the race 11 times and crafting a role for himself as the event’s “man at Westminster”, helping to cajole MPs and peers into taking part,He was an investor in all sorts of dubious schemes – from the leaky barge he bought in 1963 to timeshares – but did make some good calls, including a decision to become my business partner in our little publishing company, Deptford Forum Publishing, which has been running successfully since 1992,He is survived by his second wife, Sonia (nee Herelle), whom he married in 1992, two daughters, Yvette and me, from his first marriage to Emily (nee Gregson), which ended in divorce, by Sonia’s daughter from a previous marriage, Dionne, his grandchildren Danny, Connor, Eve and Sullivan, and a great-grandson, Liam,
Noel Clarke has made ‘wild allegations’ against his abuse accusers, court told
Noel Clarke has made “wild allegations” against women who have accused him of sexual misconduct but has not explained why they would lie about him, the high court heard on the first day of his libel claim against the Guardian.The 49-year-old actor is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles and a podcast published between April 2021 and March 2022 in which more than 20 women accused him of sexual misconduct.In written submissions, Gavin Millar KC, for GNM, said: “[The defendant] will adduce evidence from 16 women who experienced C’s [the claimant’s] misconduct first-hand, some of them on multiple occasions. There is no motive for them to lie and [the claimant] has not suggested any, beyond making wild allegations as to an alleged conspiracy.“These witnesses have remained willing to give their evidence voluntarily despite the fact that, over the course of litigation, [the claimant] has published a number of statements on social media and elsewhere expressly or impliedly denigrating those who have made allegations against him, no doubt in the hope of deterring women from cooperating with [the defendant]
Jimmy Kimmel on Trump’s tariffs: ‘Can you believe we’re shaking down Canada?’
Late-night hosts recapped another week of mixed messages on Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, government cuts and chaos from the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge).Donald Trump moved ahead with his plan to dismantle the Department of Education this week, as its secretary, Linda McMahon, confirmed her “final mission” to dissolve the agency in a staff email. “WWE co-founder Linda McMahon will supervise the important work of dismantling the Department of Education,” Jimmy Kimmel marveled on Thursday evening. “Another genius tactical move, I’ll tell you why: he keeps getting attacked by all these smart people. What does he do? He outlaws smart
Sole portrait of England’s ‘nine-day queen’ thought to have been identified by researchers
She was known as the “nine-day queen” and was used as a pawn in the ruthless ambition that defined the Tudor court. But for centuries, historians have struggled to find a single portrait of Lady Jane Grey that was painted during her lifetime.Now, research by English Heritage suggests a mysterious portrait depicts the royal who reigned over England for just over a week in the summer of 1553, and who was executed less than a year later.The charity says there is “compelling evidence” that the royal portrait of Grey was significantly altered after it was made, perhaps to depict the sitter as a Protestant martyr.By using infrared reflectography, English Heritage, working alongside the Courtauld Institute of Art and the dendrochronologist Ian Tyers, discovered that changes had been made to the sitter’s costume, including her sleeves, coif and the addition of a white scarf
Seth Meyers on Trump’s address to Congress: ‘Interminable and excruciating’
Late-night hosts analysed Donald Trump’s chaotic and long address to Congress while also questioning the strength of the response.On Late Night, Seth Meyers called the 99-minute address “interminable and excruciating” while asking how it ended up being so long. “You couldn’t bring in Doge to make any cuts?” he said.He added that Trump’s speech was “so long Adrien Brody played him off” and that the “one exciting moment” was when Al Green protested by shaking his cane and saying he didn’t have a mandate to cut Medicaid.But Meyers found the other attempts to push back mostly ineffective, saying that “this guy changed the game and these are the new rules” so Democrats need to be tougher
‘One slip and I’d be lost in the flood’: shocking report reveals dangers of jobs in the arts
From dancers breaking bones to camera crews forced to take terrible risks, stage and screen jobs can be hugely hazardous, says a scathing new report. We meet workers who feel ‘disposable’ – and the groups pushing for change‘Every time I think about starting a new job,” says Lucy, a documentary maker, “I feel triggered. Because every job I’ve done in the last five years, bar maybe two, I’ve had some kind of absolutely horrendous experience. I now expect to be put in danger at work.”Lucy (not her real name) is by no means an isolated case
Edwyn Collins: ‘Could an Orange Juice reunion ever be on the cards? No!’
The singer-songwriter on breaking up his band, recovering from a stroke, being too old to be a punk, and the chaos of recording with Mark E Smith In these deeply troubled, fractured, febrile times, why did you call the new record Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation? smileywombatIt was Grace’s choice [Grace Maxwell, his wife and musical collaborator]. Up in Helmsdale [in the Scottish Highlands], in my studio, I have an art deco radiogram speaker which has a sort of sunburst thing with that phrase written on it. For £60 on eBay – pristine! It was the BBC World Service motto. When we were casting about for a title for the new record, it seemed like a great expression. Grace said, if you’re going to call it that you have to write a song with that title
US unemployment rate rises to 4.1% as economy added 151,000 new jobs in February – as it happened
Royal Mail to increase price of first-class stamp to £1.70
Britons snacking less as they drift back to office after pandemic
US owner of UK pharmacy chain Boots to be taken private in $10bn deal
US job market grows amid threats of mass federal layoffs and Trump tariffs
European markets fall and euro soars amid Trump tariff delays