View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
March 4, 2010

Michael Foot – A ‘distinguished and brave’ journalist

By Dominic wireposts

The National Union of Journalists has paid its tribute to former Labour party leader Michael Foot who first joined the union in 1937 and has died aged 96.

Foot was editor of the Evening Standard at the age of 28, from 1942-44, and is a former editor of Tribune and columnist for the Daily Herald.

NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “The union has always been very proud that Michael Foot was a member of ours, having joined the NUJ in 1937. We were particularly glad that his eminent career was recognised by membership of honour of his union in 1984.

“His career as a journalist was a distinguished and brave one, and his integrity and commitment to a diverse and free press was an inspiration to many.”

The Guardian obituary today has more on Foot’s career as a journalist, noting that he was first given a try-out at the New Statesman but that then editor, Kingsley Martin, decided not to give him a job.

He instead was one of the founder members of staff on Tribune, the leftwing weekly started by Stafford Cripps in 1937. He then joined the Evening Standard as a feature writer, having impressed its proprietor Lord Beaverbrook, and was on the paper’s payroll when war broke out.

After distinguishing himself with defiantly anti-Nazi leaders, Foot was made editor of the Standard in 1942 at the age of 28 leaving after the war to write a column for the Herald. He was ineligible for military service because of his asthma.

Content from our partners
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it
Impress: Regulation, arbitration and complaints resolution

He was Tribune editor again from 1948-52 and from 1955-60, The Guardian reports.

Kevin Maguire, writing in the Mirror, today cites 10 things you didn’t know about Michael Foot, including the fact that he hated the Daily Mail, calling it the “Forgers Gazette”, and that libel damages from the Sunday Times helped pay for a new kitchen, as well as providing £10,000 to help keep Tribune going.

Foot fought and won a libel battle against the Sunday Times over the 1995 story headlined: “KGB: Michael Foot was our agent”.

The Telegraph, in its detailed obituary, reports that Foot’s twice weekly political column was dropped by The Herald after 20 years when the paper was relaunched as The Sun in 1965. Lord Beaverbrook came to his rescue, the Telegraph reports, appointing him as the Evening Standard’s chief book reviewer.

Geoffrey Goodman, writing in Tribune, notes that Foot returned to journalism and writing after standing down as an MP before the 1992 election.

“He wrote essays for Tribune, book reviews for his old paper, the Evening Standard, and yet more outstanding books. The hand was never still, the mind never wholly at rest, even when he could scarcely walk or see out of his remaining, partly functioning eye.”

Topics in this article : , ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network