Michael, who grew up in Gloucester and studied at the local grammar school, came into journalism through what was then a traditional route, a local paper – the Maidenhead Advertiser – and then two regional papers, the Northern Echo (where he worked with the future Sunday Times editor Harry Evans) and Manchester Evening News, before making it to Fleet Street and the Financial Times, followed by the Daily Telegraph and The Times. After a spell in Hong Kong as managing editor of The Asian, on a year’s leave of absence from Times Newspapers, he was lured back to the Sunday Times in 1972 by Evans. Michael’s heyday was probably in the 1980s when he and Andrew Neil, the then Sunday Times editor, were a formidable team. Though supportive of Thatcher’s economic and political agenda, the newspaper was also a thorn in the government’s side. On one occasion in the mid-1980s, when the pound was under pressure, he caused consternation at the Treasury by faithfully reporting the prime minister’s view that you could not buck the market, even if it meant the pound falling to one-for-one parity with the dollar. It almost did. On another occasion, in an episode featured in Netflix’s The Crown, the paper reported that the Queen was dismayed by an “uncaring” Thatcher. Buckingham Palace and Downing Street tried to knock down the story, but Michael was able to demonstrate, and convince his old friend, Thatcher’s press secretary Bernard Ingham, that it was well sourced. “He was the most brilliant political editor, a wonderful colleague and friend,” said Neil, after hearing of Michael’s death. “We fought so many battles together; I trusted him to the hilt. And he never let me down. We stood shoulder to shoulder on so many issues and even when the going was tough, he always made me laugh. I will for always be indebted to him.” Michael threw himself into Westminster life, becoming chairman of the press gallery, in an era when Parliament was boozier than now. After one late night mishap, a doctor in A & E asked him the standard question: “Can you name the prime minister?” Few were better placed to provide the answer. John Witherow, who succeeded Neil as editor in the 1990s, also paid tribute. “Michael was a hugely experienced political editor who gave me great advice when I became editor in 1994,” he said. “He had terrific judgment and was a wise head during days of political turmoil.” After his retirement from the Sunday Times in 2002, he helped the first woman speaker of the House of Commons, the late Betty Boothroyd, to write her highly successful memoirs, and became an executive member of the group which raised the funds for the Women of World War Two memorial in Whitehall.