Simon James Heffer (born 18 July 1960) is an English

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and political commentator. He has published several

biographies A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

and a series of books on the social history of Great Britain from the mid-nineteenth century until the end of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He was appointed professorial research fellow at the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chanc ...

in 2017. He worked as a columnist for the '' Daily Mail'' and since 2015 has had a weekly column in ''

The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, founded in February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', kn ...

''. As a political commentator, Heffer takes a socially

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

position.

Family and education

Heffer was born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, and was educated there at King Edward VI Grammar School before going to read English at Corpus Christi College,

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

( MA); after he had become a successful journalist his old university later awarded him a PhD in History for a book on

Enoch Powell John Enoch Powell, (16 June 1912 – 8 February 1998) was a British politician, classical scholar, author, linguist, soldier, philologist, and poet. He served as a Conservative Member of Parliament (1950–1974) and was Minister of Health (1 ...

Career

Journalism

Heffer worked for ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' until 1995. He worked as a columnist for the '' Daily Mail'' from 1995 to 2005. He rejoined the ''Telegraph'' in October 2005 as a columnist and associate editor. Martin Newland, the ''Daily Telegraph'' editor at the time, described the newspaper as Heffer's "natural journalistic home". He left the ''Telegraph'' in May 2011 to "pursue a role in journalism and broadcasting" and "complete a major literary project". It had been speculated that his departure had been prompted by his constant attacks on David Cameron's government, of which the ''Telegraph'' had been generally supportive. Heffer later rejoined the ''Daily Mail'' to edit a new online comment section, called RightMinds, of the paper's online edition. He returned to the ''Daily Telegraph'' in June 2015 and has a weekly column in the '' Sunday Telegraph''.

Historian and author

Heffer has written biographies of the historian and essayist

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams and of the British politician

('' Like the Roman''), which was described by the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'' as "a lucid and majestic tribute" to the politician. He received his PhD in modern history from Cambridge University for the 1998 Powell biography. In September 2010, Heffer published ''Strictly English: the Correct Way to Write... and Why it Matters'', a guide to

English grammar English grammar is the set of structural rules of the English language. This includes the structure of words, phrases, clauses, Sentence (linguistics), sentences, and whole texts. This article describes a generalized, present-day Standard English ...

and usage. The book met with some negative reception. Since 2010 he has published several historical works such as ''A Short History of Power'' (2010) and a series of three books on the social history of Great Britain from the mid nineteenth century until the end of the First World War - ''High Minds – the Victorians and the Birth of Modern Britain'' (2013), ''The Age of Decadence – Britain 1880 to 1914'' and ''Staring at God – Britain 1914 to 1919'' (2019). Heffer became a professorial research fellow at the University of Buckingham in 2017.

Hillsborough comments

Heffer said in 2012 that he wrote the first draft of a '' Spectator'' editorial in 2004 regarding the death of

Kenneth Bigley Kenneth is an English given name and surname. The name is an Anglicised form of two entirely different Gaelic personal names: ''Cainnech'' and '' Cináed''. The modern Gaelic form of ''Cainnech'' is ''Coinneach''; the name was derived from a ...

, which said in part: These comments (sometimes incorrectly attributed to the then-editor of the ''Spectator'',

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

) were widely circulated following the April 2016 verdict by the Hillsborough inquest's second hearing proving

unlawful killing In English law, unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or more unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of ...

of the 96 dead at Hillsborough. Johnson apologised at the time of the publication, saying: "That was a lie that unfortunately and very, very regrettably got picked up in a leader in the ''Spectator'' in 2004, which I was then editing."

Politics

Heffer was politically left-wing in his teenage years, but had abandoned his views by the time he went to university, although he states he still has a lingering respect and affection for several past figures of the left, such as

Michael Foot Michael Mackintosh Foot (23 July 19133 March 2010) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Labour Leader from 1980 to 1983. Foot began his career as a journalist on ''Tribune'' and the ''Evening Standard''. He co-wrote the 1940 p ...

and

Tony Benn Anthony Neil Wedgwood Benn (3 April 1925 – 14 March 2014), known between 1960 and 1963 as Viscount Stansgate, was a British politician, writer and diarist who served as a Cabinet minister in the 1960s and 1970s. A member of the Labour Party, ...

. Heffer is a social conservative, though in a recent interview he described himself as a Gladstonian Liberal. He supported the retention of

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

, opposed the equalisation of the age of consent and the

liberalisation Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used m ...

of laws on abortion and divorce. In 2008, Heffer called for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

to be strengthened: "If the UN ceases to be regarded by the larger powers as an institution to secure the peace of the world and justice therein, then that holds out all sorts of potential dangers." On 27 May 2009, Heffer threatened to stand as an independent against Sir Alan Haselhurst, his local Conservative MP and a deputy speaker, unless Haselhurst paid back the £12,000 he claimed for work on his garden, as revealed in the Parliamentary expenses scandal. A month later, Haselhurst announced that he would pay the £12,000 back, while insisting it had been claimed within the rules. In 2010, Heffer criticised the then Prime Minister, David Cameron, and modernising elements within the Conservative Party. Heffer has written sympathetically about and backed the

United Kingdom Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), member ...

(UKIP) and

Nigel Farage Nigel Paul Farage (; born 3 April 1964) is a British broadcaster and former politician who was Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) from 2006 to 2009 and 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Brexit Party (renamed Reform UK in 2021) from 2 ...

. He supported the UK's withdrawal from the EU in the Brexit referendum. In an article in the ''Daily Telegraph'', Heffer suggested that some of those who supported Britain remaining in the European Union were members of the

Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...

and attendees of the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

at Davos. From 2016 to 2019, he was part of the political advisory board of

Leave Means Leave Leave Means Leave was a pro-Brexit, Eurosceptic political pressure group organisation that campaigned and lobbied for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union following the 'Leave' result of the EU referendum on 23 June 2016. The campaig ...

Personal life

Heffer married his wife Diana Caroline in 1987. He has two children. Heffer lives in

with his family. His passions outside of politics include classical music and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

Bibliography

* Heffer, Simon, & Charles Moore (editors), ''A Tory Seer: The Selected Journalism of T.E. Utley'', London, 1989, * Heffer, Simon, ''Moral Desperado: A Life of Thomas Carlyle'', London, 1995. * Heffer, Simon, ''Power and Place: The Political Consequences of King Edward VII'', London, 1998. * Heffer, Simon, '' Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell'', London, 1998. * Heffer, Simon, ''Nor Shall My Sword: The Reinvention of England'', London, 1999. * Heffer, Simon, ''Vaughan Williams'', London, 2000. * Heffer, Simon: ''Strictly English: The correct way to write... and why it matters'', London : Rh Books, 2010, * * Heffer, Simon, ''Simply English'', London : RH Books, 2014. * Heffer, Simon (2017) ''The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914'', Random House, London * Heffer, Simon (2019) ''Staring at God: Britain in the Great War'', Random House, London

Critical studies, reviews and biography

References

External links

www.macmillandictionaryblog.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heffer, Simon 1960 births Living people People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Daily Mail journalists The Daily Telegraph people English atheists English biographers English columnists British male writers Male non-fiction writers