Jane Merrick
OccupationJournalist
Employeri (newspaper)

Jane Merrick (born 23 November 1973) is a British journalist who is currently the policy editor at the i newspaper. She was previously the political editor of The Independent on Sunday between 2008 and 2015. Merrick has also worked as a political correspondent for The Daily Mail and the Press Association.

Early life

Merrick was born on 23 November 1973 in Liverpool, England.[1][2] She grew up in the suburb of Aigburth[3] and attended a comprehensive school. Her parents were teachers who support the Labour Party.[4] In interviews, Merrick has discussed how her mother was one of 31,000 council workers threatened with redundancy by Derek Hatton and the Militant in Liverpool.[5] She has two siblings.[6] Merrick then studied at the University of Leeds.[2][7]

Career

At the age of 19, Merrick set up a listings magazine called L:Scene during her gap year in 1993 which was her first job in journalism.[8] She worked as a political correspondent for the Press Association in Westminster between 2001 and 2003.[9] She then worked for The Daily Mail as a political correspondent between 2003 and 2008.[10][11] Merrick left the newspaper to become political editor for The Independent on Sunday,[12][13] a position she held till 2015 when she became a freelance journalist to spend more time with her daughter.[8][14] She co-founded a daily news briefing email service called The Spoon which launched in 2017.[15]

She joined the Labour Party in 2016 to support Angela Eagle's bid to become leader in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election.[16] Merrick left Labour in 2018 due to Jeremy Corbyn's leadership and their handling of antisemitism within the party.[17]

In November 2017, then Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon resigned following Merrick's allegation of sexual harassment when she was a 29-year-old journalist for The Daily Mail in 2003. She had accused Fallon of lunging towards her.[18][19] Merrick was highlighted in Time's Person of the Year edition in the same year, which highlighted "The Silence Breakers" who spoke out against sexual harassment.[20]

Merrick was named in The House magazine list of 100 most inspirational women in Westminster in 2022.[21]

Personal life

Merrick is in a relationship with Toby Helm who is the political editor of The Observer. They have a daughter born in 2010.[3][22]

References

  1. ↑ @janemerrick23 (24 June 2016). "Born in Liverpool Studied in Leeds Live and work in London Ancestry in Scotland Proud to be part of the 48%" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. 1 2 Merrick, Jane (17 August 2008). "Jane Merrick: It should have been me wearing Paula's GB vest". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  3. 1 2 Merrick, Jane (11 April 2010). "Born again: Liverpool returns to the polls". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  4. ↑ "Show 78 – Jane Merrick". The Political Party. 18 October 2018. Event occurs at 16:57. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  5. ↑ Merrick, Jane (23 September 2018). "My mum almost lost her job thanks to Derek Hatton". The Sunday Times.(subscription required)
  6. ↑ "Show 78 – Jane Merrick". The Political Party. 18 October 2018. Event occurs at 23:40. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  7. ↑ @janemerrick23 (20 April 2018). "I went to a comprehensive school in Liverpool and university in Leeds. I knew no one in journalism when I got into it. Very proud of my achievement of becoming a political editor aged 34. I have no tribal loyalty to any ideology. Nobody tells me what to think or write" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. 1 2 Merrick, Jane (7 November 2015). "From an unknown band to Princess Diana – the best stories I never told". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  9. ↑ "Show 78 – Jane Merrick". The Political Party. 18 October 2018. Event occurs at 07:15. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  10. ↑ "Show 78 – Jane Merrick". The Political Party. 18 October 2018. Event occurs at 03:25. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  11. ↑ "Show 78 – Jane Merrick". The Political Party. 18 October 2018. Event occurs at 03:00. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  12. ↑ Blanko, Bill (27 November 2008). "Controversial result in parliamentary pub quiz". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  13. ↑ "Independent plots Saturday revamp". The Guardian. 18 December 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  14. ↑ Turvill, William (22 July 2015). "Political editors out at Indy titles, Whitehall editor promoted". Press Gazette. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  15. ↑ Ponsford, Dominic. "Senior political journalists launch new daily email called The Spoon". Press Gazette.
  16. ↑ Merrick, Jane (21 July 2016). "Why should anyone want to save Labour when it clearly doesn't want to save itself?". The Telegraph.(subscription required)
  17. ↑ Merrick, Jane (20 July 2018). "I cannot tolerate antisemitism so I'm leaving Labour". The Times.(subscription required)
  18. ↑ Doward, Jamie (4 November 2017). "Revealed: why Michael Fallon was forced to quit as defence secretary". The Observer.
  19. ↑ Merrick, Jane (4 November 2017). "I won't keep my silence: Michael Fallon lunged at me after our lunch". The Observer.
  20. ↑ "Time magazine person of year Jane Merrick on #MeToo". BBC News. 7 December 2017.
  21. ↑ McFadden, Brendan (7 March 2022). "I's policy editor Jane Merrick named as one of the 100 most inspirational women in Westminster". i.
  22. ↑ Dickson, Annabelle (6 September 2017). "Westminster's power couples". Politico Europe.
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