a https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/ I'm Michael Crick, and I'm Newsnight's political editor. My guiding rule is that in any story there's usually something the politicians would prefer the world not to know. My job is to find that out. Follow me on Twitter en Copyright 2011 Mon, 23 May 2011 13:30:16 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.33-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss This is my last blog in this format. I'm getting a new picture and a new biography, but the good news is that you still get me - here. Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/now_for_something_completely_d.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/now_for_something_completely_d.html Mon, 23 May 2011 13:30:16 +0000 There is a new coalition emerging in British politics. Fresh from their resounding success in defeating AV, many Conservative MPs have started talking to Labour backbenchers who also voted No in the referendum trying to form a new alliance to defeat the proposals to reform the House of Lords, announced Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/the_dinosaurs_coalition.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/the_dinosaurs_coalition.html Wed, 18 May 2011 21:45:45 +0000 An amazing salvo from Dennis Skinner at Prime Minister's Questions today. It was vintage Skinner, of a kind we've not seen for 10 years or more. Many believe the Beast of Bolsover has mellowed in recent years, following his heart troubles and problems in his personal life. But not today. Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/an_amazing_salvo_from_dennis.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/an_amazing_salvo_from_dennis.html Wed, 18 May 2011 21:07:54 +0000 Ed Miliband often boasts of how tens of thousands of people have joined the Labour Party since the election - all evidence of his "new generation", he says. I must admit I have always been rather sceptical about the figures, but perhaps they're true. One Labour MP told me tonight Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/boundary_changes_boosting_lab.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/boundary_changes_boosting_lab.html Wed, 18 May 2011 20:21:00 +0000 Cabinet minister Chris Huhne has contacted Essex Police offering to help them with their inquiry into allegations he tried to evade punishment for speeding, his spokeswoman said tonight. Earlier Essex police announced that they are starting to interview key individuals relating to the claims that Mr Huhne asked his then Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/essex_police_confident_of_quic.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/essex_police_confident_of_quic.html Wed, 18 May 2011 18:56:17 +0000 Some of the press speculation about Chris Huhne in recent days has focused on whether he was the victim of a 30 mile an hour speed restriction on the M11 which had been imposed because of road works. On 15 February 2003 the Daily Telegraph reported that extensive road works Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/was_huhne_restricted_by_m11_ro.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/was_huhne_restricted_by_m11_ro.html Wed, 18 May 2011 16:57:29 +0000 Expect MPs to be very nervous this September. That's when the Boundary Commissions are going to make their provisional recommendations for the new, larger, Parliamentary constituencies. The number of seats in the Commons is being cut from 650 to 600, and the size of seats being made more equal, which Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/black_september_for_mps.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/black_september_for_mps.html Wed, 18 May 2011 15:22:33 +0000 UPDATE AT 1652BST: A spokesman for Nick Clegg has just told me that he "would not have been on the plane" - Ryanair flight 7775 on 12 March 2003. The spokesman tells me that during the weeks that the European Parliament sat in Strasbourg rather than Brussels, Mr Clegg's routine Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/was_nick_clegg_with_chris_huhn.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/was_nick_clegg_with_chris_huhn.html Wed, 18 May 2011 12:16:59 +0000 Yesterday the Daily Telegraph sports section ran an article giving ratings for every Manchester United player this season. For the two Brazilian full-backs, Rafael and Fabio - who are identical twins - the Telegraph merely reversed the photo of one of them. Mind you, the pair do look so alike Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/twins_reversed_at_daily_telegr.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/twins_reversed_at_daily_telegr.html Tue, 17 May 2011 16:21:22 +0000 Two hours ago Newsnight discovered that Vicky Pryce - Chris Huhne's now estranged wife - was due to address a seminar at the LSE on the evening of 12 March 2003. That's the date in contention in the Chris Huhne speeding mystery. And the LSE has just confirmed to me Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/on_the_huhne_speeding_mystery.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/on_the_huhne_speeding_mystery.html Mon, 16 May 2011 14:38:26 +0000 Great news. You may recall that last summer I complained that Oxford University had refused to tell what classes of degree each of the Miliband brothers has. They couldn't tell me for "data protection reasons", the press officer said when I phoned him. However, a reader, David Mason has been Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/exam_results_not_restricted_by.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/exam_results_not_restricted_by.html Wed, 11 May 2011 16:24:34 +0000 Last week's huge election losses will deal a huge blow to the Liberal Democrats financially. For many years now the Lib Dems have automatically levied a 10% tithe on all their elected officials on the income they get from politics - councillors, MPs, MSPs, MEPs, and even government ministers. The Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/election_losses_leave_lib_dems.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/election_losses_leave_lib_dems.html Tue, 10 May 2011 15:36:50 +0000 This week, the first anniversary of the formation of the coalition, is seeing a torrent of articles and broadcasts referring to the "Downing Street rose garden". This is rapidly becoming one of the great myths of history. As I have said before, it is not a rose garden, though it's Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/downing_streets_misnamed_garde.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/downing_streets_misnamed_garde.html Tue, 10 May 2011 13:26:59 +0000 The Commons Standards and Privileges Committee will meet tomorrow morning to consider the Standards Commissioner's report on the former Liberal Democrat Chief Secretary David Laws. It's taken the commissioner almost a year to produce his report. I'm told that the document is long and complicated, and that the committee may Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/whither_david_laws.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/whither_david_laws.html Mon, 09 May 2011 22:21:57 +0000 The speech from the former Health Secretary, Stephen Dorrell in the Commons this afternoon received approving nods from both sides of the Coalition benches. From the Health Secretary Andrew Lansley and his colleague Oliver Letwin, but also from two of the biggest critics of the bill - the Liberal Democrat Michael Crick (BBC News) https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/is_dorrell_bidding_to_rescue_c.html https://nontonwae.pages.dev/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/is_dorrell_bidding_to_rescue_c.html Mon, 09 May 2011 17:11:01 +0000