Micher, Michael

Born in the family of a poor peasant brewer. He graduated from New College in Oxford, where he graduated with honors from the first class in the field of antiquity and theology, then - at the London School of Economics , where he received a diploma in social management.

He worked as a researcher and teacher of social management at the universities of Essex and York and wrote a book on the treatment of older people in psychiatric hospitals. Twice unsuccessfully running for the British Parliament from the Labor Party in the 1966 general election and early elections in West Oldham County in 1968.

In 1970, he was elected to the House of Commons of Great Britain from West Oldham County ^[1] . He kept the deputy mandate until the end of his life.

He served as deputy minister of industry (1974-1975) and deputy minister of health and social welfare (1975-1979) ^[2] .

While the Laborites were in the opposition, for fourteen years he was a member of the shadow cabinet and at the same time lectured at the London School of Economics. In the party leadership, he was an ally of Tony Benn and was a candidate from the left flank to the post of deputy chairman of the Labor Party in 1983. In the shadow cabinet, he held the following posts:

• Shadow Minister of Health and Social Welfare (1983-1987),
• shadow minister of employment (1987-1989),
• Shadow Minister of Social Security (1989-1992),
• Shadow Minister for the Development of Overseas Territories (1992-1993),
• the shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster and the minister for improving the level of service in the service sector - Citizen's Carter (1993-1994),
• Shadow Minister of Transport (1994-1995),
• Shadow Minister of Environmental Protection (1996-1997).

From 1997 to 2001, he was Minister of Environment at the Ministry of Environment, Transport and Regions (1997-2001), and then renamed the Ministry of Environment, Food and Rural Development (2001-2003) ^[3] . Despite the negative attitude to politics on the part of Prime Minister Anthony Blair , he gained a reputation as the oldest and most experienced member of the Labor Cabinet.

After his resignation in June 2003, he criticized the Labor government on a number of issues, in particular on the use of genetically modified food and the involvement in the Iraq war (2003), although on the eve of the invasion he accepted reports from intelligence agencies claiming to have Iraq there was a chemical weapon.

The politician considered the absence of a warning from the United States intelligence agencies regarding the September 11, 2001 terrorist acts suspicious and saw this as an extremely convenient excuse for the subsequent unleashing of hostilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. He also wrote a preface to David Ray Griffin 's New Pearl Harbor book.

In May 2005, the House of Commons came up with an early day motion on climate change, urging the government to commit to annual reductions in CO2 emissions of 3%.

After deciding on the resignation of Anthony Blair from the post of British Prime Minister and party leader, he was considered as a possible candidate for the post of Labor head from the "left" party wing and even initially spoke out with this intention, but then decided to support John McDonnell 's candidacy. On his blog and an article on ePolitix.com, he criticized Blair and Brown for stepping into the mainstream of right-wing politics, including privatization. He also called for more peaceful policies in the Middle East, made proposals to address income inequality, and advocated for greater commitment to reducing energy consumption.

In the party elections in 2015, he was one of 36 Labor MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbin as a candidate for the post of leader of the Labor Party.

He was part of the Fabian society .