Editing Simon Heffer

{{Short description|British journalist and historian, born 1960}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2013}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Simon Heffer
| birth_name         = Simon James Heffer
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|1960|7|18|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Chelmsford]], [[Essex]], England
| occupation         = {{flatlist|
* Historian
* journalist
* author
* political commentator
}}
| spouse             = {{Marriage|Diana Caroline Heffer|1987}}
| children           = 2
| education          = [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford]]
| alma_mater         = [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]
}}
'''Simon James Heffer''' (born 18 July 1960) is an English [[historian]], [[journalist]], [[author]] and political commentator. He has published several [[biographies]] 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]]. He was appointed professorial research fellow at the [[University of Buckingham]] in 2017.

He worked as a columnist for the ''[[Daily Mail]]'' and since 2015 has had a weekly column in ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]''. As a political commentator, Heffer takes a [[Social conservatism|socially]] [[Conservatism in the United Kingdom|conservative]] position.

==Early life and education==
Heffer was born in [[Chelmsford]], [[Essex]], and was educated there at [[King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford|King Edward VI Grammar School]] before going to read English at [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Corpus Christi College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]] ([[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]]); after he had become a successful journalist and author, his old university awarded him a [[PhD]] in History for his 1998 [[biography]] of [[Enoch Powell]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Brook |first=Stephen |date=1 December 2009 |title=Simon Heffer to take sabbatical from Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/dec/01/simon-heffer-daily-telegraph |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=14 March 2016}}</ref>

==Career==

=== Journalism ===
Heffer worked for ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' 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''{{'s}} editor at the time, described the newspaper as Heffer's "natural journalistic home".<ref name="Telegraph">{{cite news | title=Columnist Simon Heffer to join the Daily Telegraph | work=The Daily Telegraph| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/pressoffice/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/pressoffice/2005/09/19/pre20050919.xml | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311102242/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/pressoffice/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/pressoffice/2005/09/19/pre20050919.xml | archive-date=11 March 2007 | access-date=5 November 2006 | location=London}}</ref> He left the ''Telegraph'' in May 2011 to "pursue a role in journalism and broadcasting" and "complete a major literary project".<ref>{{cite news |first=James |last=Robinson |title=Simon Heffer to leave Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/11/simon-heffer-leaves-daily-telegraph |date=11 May 2011 |work=The Guardian |access-date=12 May 2001 |location=London}}</ref> It had been speculated that his departure had been prompted by his constant attacks on [[Cameron–Clegg coalition|David Cameron's government]], of which the ''Telegraph'' had been generally supportive.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/may/11/simon-heffer-leaves-daily-telegraph Simon Heffer to leave Daily Telegraph], ''[[The Guardian]]'', 11 May 2011</ref> Heffer later rejoined the ''Daily Mail'' to edit a new online comment section, called RightMinds, of the paper's online edition.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/sep/13/heffer-mail-online-comment-website | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Josh | last=Halliday | title=Simon Heffer launches MailOnline comment website RightMinds | date=13 September 2011}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b014gcm1 Simon Heffer and media ownership], [[BBC Radio 4]], 14 September 2011</ref> He returned to the ''Daily Telegraph'' in June 2015 and has a weekly column in the ''[[The Sunday Telegraph|Sunday Telegraph]]''.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/11655186/Simon-Heffer-Culture-isnt-just-nice-its-necessary.html 'Culture isn't just nice – it's necessary'], ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', 6 June 2015</ref>

=== Historian and author ===
Heffer has written biographies of the historian and essayist [[Thomas Carlyle]] and the composer [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]]. His 1998 biography of the British politician [[Enoch Powell]], ''[[Like the Roman]]'', was described by the ''[[New Statesman]]'' as "a lucid and majestic tribute" to the politician.<ref name="New Statesman_Powell">{{cite news
| url = http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/10/english-heffer-sentence
| date = 11 December 1998
| title = The long road to oblivion. Ian Aitken on Simon Heffer's lucid and majestic tribute to the controversial genius of Enoch Powell
| author = Ian Aitken
| work = [[New Statesman]]
| access-date = 15 March 2011| author-link = Ian Aitken (journalist)
}}</ref><ref>[http://www.faber.co.uk/content/faber-finds-enoch-powell-simon-heffer www.faber.co.uk] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511022347/http://www.faber.co.uk/content/faber-finds-enoch-powell-simon-heffer |date=11 May 2013 }}</ref> He received his PhD in Modern History from [[Cambridge University]] for the Powell biography.<ref name=":0" />

In September 2010, Heffer published ''Strictly English: the Correct Way to Write... and Why it Matters'', a guide to [[English grammar]] and usage. The book met with some negative reception.<ref name="New Statesman_Strictly English">{{cite news
|url = https://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/10/english-heffer-sentence
|date = 14 October 2010
|title = Strictly English: The Correct Way to Write...and Why it Matters By Simon Heffer
|author = David Crystal
|work = [[New Statesman]]
|access-date = 15 March 2011
|author-link = David Crystal
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101017034632/https://www.newstatesman.com/books/2010/10/english-heffer-sentence
 |archive-date=17 October 2010 }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.buckingham.ac.uk/directory/professor-simon-heffer/|title=Professor Simon Heffer|website=University of Buckingham|language=en|access-date=15 November 2019}}</ref>

==Hillsborough comments==
Heffer said in 2012 that he wrote the first draft of a ''[[The Spectator|Spectator]]'' editorial in 2004 regarding the death of [[Kenneth Bigley]], which said in part:
{{blockquote|The extreme reaction to Mr Bigley's murder is fed by the fact that he was a Liverpudlian. [[Liverpool]] is a handsome city with a tribal sense of community. A combination of economic misfortune – its docks were, fundamentally, on the wrong side of England when Britain entered what is now the European Union – and an excessive predilection for welfarism have created a peculiar, and deeply unattractive, psyche among many Liverpudlians. They see themselves whenever possible as victims, and resent their victim status; yet at the same time they wallow in it. ... They cannot accept that they might have made any contribution to their misfortunes, but seek rather to blame someone else for it, thereby deepening their sense of shared tribal grievance against the rest of society. The deaths of more than 50 [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] football supporters [[Hillsborough disaster|at Hillsborough in 1989]] was undeniably a greater tragedy than the single death, however horrible, of Mr Bigley; but that is no excuse for Liverpool's failure to acknowledge, even to this day, the part played in the disaster by drunken fans at the back of the crowd who mindlessly tried to fight their way into the ground that Saturday afternoon. The police became a convenient [[scapegoat]], and ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' newspaper a whipping-boy for daring, albeit in a tasteless fashion, to hint at the wider causes of the incident.<ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Bigley's fate |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2004/10/bigleys-fate/ |magazine=The Spectator |location=London |publisher=Press Holdings |date=16 October 2004 |access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref>}}
These comments (sometimes incorrectly attributed to the then-editor of the ''Spectator'', [[Boris Johnson]]) were widely circulated following the April 2016 verdict by [[Hillsborough disaster#Second hearing|the Hillsborough inquest's second hearing]] proving [[unlawful killing]] of the 96 dead at Hillsborough.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Doré|first1=Louis|title=The truth about that awful Boris Johnson 'quote' on Hillsborough|url=http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-truth-about-that-awful-alleged-boris-johnson-quote-on-hillsborough--Z1SY2Me2WW|access-date=29 April 2016|work=indy100|date=26 April 2016|archive-date=29 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429090744/http://indy100.independent.co.uk/article/the-truth-about-that-awful-alleged-boris-johnson-quote-on-hillsborough--Z1SY2Me2WW}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Hillsborough: Boris Johnson apologises for slurs in 2004 Spectator article |url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/hillsborough-boris-johnson-apologises-slurs-3334849 |newspaper=Liverpool Echo |date=13 September 2012 |access-date=27 April 2016}}</ref>

==Politics==
Heffer was [[Political left|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]] and [[Tony Benn]].<Ref>https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2430/calm-down-old-boy-laurie-taylor-interviews-simon-heffer</Ref>

Heffer is a social conservative, though in a recent interview he described himself as a Gladstonian Liberal. He supported the retention of [[Section 28]], opposed the equalisation of the [[age of consent]] and the [[Liberalization|liberalisation]] of laws on abortion and divorce.<ref>{{cite news |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514015115/http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/01/07/do0701.xml|archive-date=14 May 2008|last=Heffer|first=Simon|title=The sooner the 1960s are over, the better |department=Simon Heffer on Saturday |work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|date=7 January 2006|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/01/07/do0701.xml |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref> He opposed the removal of [[hereditary peers]] from the [[House of Lords]] in 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/8267086/The-last-thing-the-House-of-Lords-needs-is-a-mass-of-elected-members.html|title=The last thing the House of Lords needs is a mass of elected members|last=Heffer|first=Simon|date=18 January 2011|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|access-date=5 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119022845/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/8267086/The-last-thing-the-House-of-Lords-needs-is-a-mass-of-elected-members.html|archive-date=19 January 2011}}</ref>

Heffer believes that [[Christianity]] should have a strong role in shaping both the moral foundation of society and public policy, but he is personally an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref name="atheism">{{cite news |last=Heffer |first=Simon |date=21 December 2005 |title=Stop apologising for being Christian |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3621833/Stop-apologising-for-being-Christian.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London |access-date=21 December 2005}}</ref>

In 2008, Heffer called for the [[United Nations]] 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."<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/01/14/do1401.xml | work=The Daily Telegraph| location=London | title=UK foreign interventions as a middling power | first=Simon | last=Heffer | date=12 January 2008 | access-date=23 May 2010}} {{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> On 27 May 2009, Heffer threatened to stand as an independent against [[Alan Haselhurst|Sir Alan Haselhurst]],<ref>Simon Heffer [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5389356/MPs-expenses-do-the-right-thing-Sir-Alan-Haselhurst-or-I-will-stand-against-you.html "MPs' expenses: do the right thing, Sir Alan Haselhurst, or I will stand against you"], ''Daily Telegraph'', 27 May 2009.</ref> 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 [[Disclosure of expenses of Members of the United Kingdom Parliament|Parliamentary expenses scandal]].<ref>Stephen Brook [https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/may/27/simon-heffer-alan-haselhurst "Daily Telegraph writer Simon Heffer threatens to stand against his Tory MP"], ''The Guardian'', 27 May 2009.</ref> A month later, Haselhurst announced that he would pay the £12,000 back, while insisting it had been claimed within the rules.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saffronwaldenconservatives.com/index.php?sectionid=3&pagenumber=281|title=MP to pay back Gardening Expenses|publisher=Saffron Walden Conservatives|date=May 2009|quote=The expense claims I made over recent years have been strictly in accordance with Parliamentary rules… However, my claim for gardening help has caused concern. Out of respect to my constituents I am this week repaying the sum of £12,000.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629205223/http://www.saffronwaldenconservatives.com/index.php?sectionid=3&pagenumber=281|archive-date=29 June 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2010, Heffer criticised the then Prime Minister, [[David Cameron]], and modernising elements within the Conservative Party.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/7737948/Only-a-Tory-without-principles-would-demonise-the-Right.html|title=Only a Tory without principles would demonise the Right|last=Heffer|first=Simon|date=18 May 2010|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/simonheffer/7750235/David-Cameron-will-rue-the-day-he-betrayed-the-Conservatives.html|title=Dave will rue the day he betrayed the Conservatives|last=Heffer|first=Simon|date=21 May 2010|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London}}</ref>

Heffer has written sympathetically about and backed the [[United Kingdom Independence Party]] (UKIP) and [[Nigel Farage]].<ref name="UKIP">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3624186/Simon-Heffer-on-Saturday.html|title=Not all the loonies are in UKIP, Dave|last=Heffer|first=Simon|date=8 April 2006|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|access-date=5 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160707065630/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/3624186/Simon-Heffer-on-Saturday.html|archive-date=7 July 2016}}</ref> He supported the [[United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union|UK's withdrawal from the EU]] in the [[2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum|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]] and attendees of the [[World Economic Forum]] at [[Davos]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/19/the-eu-empire-is-going-to-fail-on-thursday-we-can-protect-britai The EU Empire is going to fail. On Thursday, we can protect Britain from the chaos of its death throes], by Simon Heffer, in ''The Daily Telegraph'', published 19 June 2016; retrieved 2 April 2017</ref> From 2016 to 2019, he was part of the political advisory board of [[Leave Means Leave]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.leavemeansleave.eu/who-we-are/ |title=Co-Chairmen – Political Advisory Board – Supporters |publisher=Leave Means Leave |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190204212212/http://www.leavemeansleave.eu/who-we-are/ |archive-date=4 February 2019 }}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Heffer married his wife Diana in 1987.<ref>{{Who's Who |year=2023 |title=Heffer, Prof. Simon James |id=U41475 |doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U41475}}</ref> He has two children and lives in [[Great Leighs]], near [[Chelmsford]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/essex/22570191.simon-says/ |title=Simon Says |date=13 October 2008 |work=Great British Life |access-date=10 November 2024}}</ref>{{Obsolete source|reason=Source is from 2008, so may be out-of-date|date=November 2024}} He is a director of the London Chorus (London Choral Society) and was previously director of the Elgar Foundation.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/officers/vUUbmH6-ZnX1U_xl3KfNIwc5ERA/appointments |title=Simon James HEFFER |publisher=company-information.service.gov.uk |date= |access-date=12 November 2024}}</ref>

==Bibliography==
{{Incomplete list |date=November 2015}}{{bots|deny=Citation bot}}

=== Books ===
==== Author ====
* ''The Daily Telegraph Century of County Cricket: The 100 Best Matches'' (Sidgwick & Jackson, London, 1990) {{ISBN|0283060484}}
* ''Moral Desperado: A Life of Thomas Carlyle'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1995) {{ISBN|978-0297815648}}
* ''Power and Place: The Political Consequences of King Edward VII'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) {{ISBN|978-0297842200}}
* ''[[Like the Roman: The Life of Enoch Powell]]'' (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1998) {{ISBN|0-297-84286-2}}
* ''Nor Shall My Sword: The Reinvention of England'' (London: Orion, 1999) {{ISBN|978-0297643326}}
* ''Vaughan Williams'', (London, 2000) {{ISBN|0-297-64398-3}}
* ''Great British speeches'' (London: Quercus, 2007) {{ISBN|0857383272}}
* ''The Daily Telegraph Style Guide'' (London: Aurum, 2010) {{ISBN|1845135717}}
* ''Strictly English: The Correct Way to Write... and Why it Matters'' (London: RH Books, 2010) {{ISBN|978-1-84794-630-0}}
* ''A Short History of Power'' (London: Notting Hill Editions, 2011) {{ISBN|1907903208}}
* {{cite book |title=High minds: the Victorians and the birth of modern Britain |location=London |publisher=RH Books |year=2013}} {{ISBN|9780099558477}}
* ''Simply English'' (London:RH Books, 2014) {{ISBN|0099558467}}
* ''[[The Age of Decadence: Britain 1880 to 1914]]'' (London: Random House, 2017) {{ISBN|978-1-84794-742-0}}
* ''Staring at God: Britain in the Great War'' (London: Random House, 2019) {{ISBN|978-184794-831-1}}
* ''Sing As We Go : Britain Between the Wars'' (London: Hutchinson Heinemann, 2023) {{ISBN|152915264X}}
* ''Scarcely English: An A to Z of Assaults on Our Language '' (London: Hutchinson Heinemann, 2024) {{ISBN|978-1529152791}}

==== Editor ====
* Heffer, Simon, with [[Charles Moore, Baron Moore of Etchingham|Moore, Charles]], ''A Tory Seer: The Selected Journalism of T. E. Utley'' (London, 1989) {{ISBN|0-241-12728-9}}
* Heffer, Simon, ''Henry 'Chips' Channon, The Diaries: 1943-57'', (3 volumes) (Cornerstone, 2022) {{ISBN|978-1529-1517-25}}<ref>https://thecritic.co.uk/a-chip-on-his-shoulder/</ref>

===Book reviews===
{|class='wikitable sortable' width='90%'
|-
!|Year
!class='unsortable'|Review article
!class='unsortable'|Work(s) reviewed
|-
|2014
|{{cite journal |author=Heffer, Simon |date=21 November 2014 |title=The unfinished battles of Waterloo |journal=New Statesman |volume=143 |issue=5237 |pages=44–45}}
|
* {{cite book |author=Cornwell, Bernard |author-link=Bernard Cornwell |title=Waterloo : the history of four days, three armies and three battles |location=London |publisher=William Collins |date=2014 <!--|isbn=-->}}
* {{cite book |author=Kershaw, Robert |title=24 hours at Waterloo : 18 June 1815 |location= |publisher=W. H. Allen |date= <!--|isbn=-->}}
* {{cite book |author=O'Keeffe, Paul |title=Waterloo : the aftermath |location= |publisher=Bodley Head |date= <!--|isbn=-->}}
* {{cite book |author=Clayton, Tim |title=Waterloo : four days that changed Europe's destiny |location= |publisher=Little, Brown |date= <!--|isbn=-->}}
* {{cite book |author=Simms, Brendan |author-link=Brendan Simms |title=The longest afternoon : the four hundred men who decided the Battle of Waterloo |location= |publisher=Allen Lane |date=2014 <!--|isbn=-->}}
|}

===Critical studies and reviews of Heffer's work===
;''High minds''
* {{cite journal |last=Best |first=Geoffrey |author-link=Geoffrey Best |date=November 2013 |title=The Victorians and the birth of modern Britain – a review of ''High minds'' |department=Reviews |journal=History Today |volume=63 |issue=11 |pages=65 |url=http://www.historytoday.com/blog/2013/10/victorians-and-birth-modern-britain <!--|access-date=12 April 2018-->}}

==See also==
* [[List of newspaper columnists]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.macmillandictionaryblog.com/whos-the-boss-of-english www.macmillandictionaryblog.com]

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{{succession box | before=[[Trevor Grove]] and [[Veronica Wadley]] | title=Deputy Editor of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' |with = [[Veronica Wadley]]| years=1994–1995| after=[[Sarah Sands]] }}
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[[Category:1960 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:20th-century English journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century English non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century English journalists]]
[[Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Daily Mail journalists]]
[[Category:The Daily Telegraph people]]
[[Category:English atheists]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:English columnists]]
[[Category:New Statesman people]]
[[Category:People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford]]