Michael Toner (journalist)

Michael Toner (born 1944) is a British journalist. He was political editor, diplomatic correspondent and leader writer at the Sunday Express,[1][2] chief leader writer on the Daily Mail until 2006,[3] a political author[4] and novelist.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]

Life and career

Toner was born in Bedfordshire in 1944[15] and educated at Bedford Modern School and the University of Cambridge.[8][16] He began his career in journalism at the Stoke Sentinel before moving to the Sunday Express[17] where, in 1981, he interviewed Margaret Thatcher with fellow Express journalist Keith Renshaw.[18][19][20] He became leader writer of the Sunday Express[1][2] where he covered many of the controversial topics of the 1980s and 1990s including articles about the IRA, Britain Fumes at US Over I.R.A. Guns,[21] the miners' strike,[22] the Falklands War,[23] child abuse[24] and the war crime allegations involving Kurt Waldheim.[25] David Alton described Toner's approach to Alton's anti-abortion bill as "thorough and fair".[26]

Following his period at the Sunday Express, Toner became Chief Leader Writer at the Daily Mail, a position he held until 2006 when Tom Utley succeeded him to the role.[3]

Toner's first published work, The Bluffer's Guide To The EU, has run to several editions encapsulating the changing nomenclature of that institution.[4][27][28][29] He published his first novel, Seeing the Light, in 1997.[30][31][32]

Works

• Seeing the Light. Published by Simon & Schuster, London, 1997[7][30]
• The Bluffer's Guide To The EU. Michael Toner with Christopher White and Lee Rotherham. Published by Oval, London, 1999[28][33]
• Bluff Your Way in the City[34]

References

1. "MT Engagement Diary". margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
2. Regulating The Press. 2000. p. 162. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
3. "Media Lens :: View topic – Leader writers in the UK press". medialens.org. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
4. Bluff your way in the European Community. worldcat.org. OCLC 29518354. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
5. "Toner, Michael". worldcat.org. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
6. BROADCASTING - CHRISTMAS CARD LIST, Anglia Television Limited, 8 November 1982, p. 12
7. Seeing the Light. Simon & Schuster. 1997. Retrieved 3 May 2015 – via Internet Archive.
8. School of the Black & Red, A History of Bedford Modern School, A.G. Underwood (1981)
9. Rose, Jacqueline (1993). The Case of Peter Pan, Or the Impossibility of Children's Fiction. ISBN 0812214358. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
10. Benn's Press Directory. 1978. ISBN 9780510490287. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
11. Regulating The Press. Pluto Press. 2000. p. 162. Retrieved 2 June 2015 – via Internet Archive.
12. Waddington, David (26 July 2012). David Waddington Memoirs. ISBN 9781849544573. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
13. "Vacher's Parliamentary Companion". 1984. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
14. Freeman, Michael D. A. (28 August 1997). The Moral Status of Children. ISBN 9041103775. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
15. England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916–2005
16. Toner, Michael; White, Christopher (1988). Bluff Your Way in the EEC. ISBN 9781853040993. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
17. "Way We Were: Roger Jones and his recollections of The Sentinel newspaper in Stoke-on-Trent". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
18. "Interview for Sunday Express". margaretthatcher.org. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
19. Tatchell, Peter (1983). The Battle for Bermondsey. ISBN 9780946097111. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
20. Farr, Diana; Pullein-Thompson, Diana (1985). Five at 10. ISBN 9780233977331. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
21. Irish-America and the Ulster Conflict, 1968–1995. Catholic University of Amer Press. 1995. Retrieved 2 June 2015 – via Internet Archive. michael toner sunday express.
22. "IRIS News". 1985. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
23. "The Sydney Morning Herald – Google News Archive Search". Retrieved 3 June 2015.
24. Ericson, Richard Victor (1995). Crime and the media. ISBN 9781855214330. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
25. Saltman, Jack (1988). Kurt Waldheim. ISBN 9780860515166. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
26. David Alton. "ISSUU – Whose Choice Anyway by David Alton". Issuu. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
27. Bluff your way in the EEC. worldcat.org. OCLC 26633012. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
28. The bluffer's guide to the E.U. worldcat.org. OCLC 42954302. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
29. "315041383". viaf.org. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
30. Seeing the light. worldcat.org. OCLC 37322166. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
31. "Toner, Michael". loc.gov. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
32. "Books: A week in books". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 June 2015. Retrieved 3 June 2015.
33. Toner, Michael; White, Christopher; Rotherham, Lee (1999). The Bluffer's Guide to the E.U. ISBN 9781902825113. Retrieved 3 May 2015.
34. "Bluff Your Way in the City (The Bluffer's City Collection)". LibraryThing.com. Retrieved 2 June 2015.

External links

• Michael Toner in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Michael Toner (journalist) at LibraryThing