A professional illustrator and the Director of ArtWatch UK, Mike Daley has been described as: ‘one of the world of fine arts’ more outspoken and lucid intelligences.” (Giles Auty, The Spectator, 11 June 1998.)

Traditionally trained in fine art (principally sculpture and printmaking) at Hull College of Art and the Royal Academy Schools, his illustrations and portraits have been widely carried in the British press, including The Financial Times; The Independent and the Sunday Independent; and, more recently, in: The Daily Telegraph; The Sunday Telegraph; The Times Higher Educational Supplement; The Spectator and Standpoint. 

He has also illustrated for a diverse range of books including, ‘The Independent Cook’, ‘The Gardening Companion’ and several Methuen’s Children’s Books.

Mike has also been writing and broadcasting on art, art education and art restoration since the early 1970s. In 1993 was co-author, with the late Professor James Beck, Columbia University, of Art Restoration – The Culture, The Business, The Scandal. 

As editor of the ArtWatch UK, Journal (“a splendid magazine . . . that reports on restoration blunders all over the world” ~ The Sunday Telegraph”), Daley is a forthright spokesman for the protection of world cultural heritage, defending the British Museum’s ownership of the Elgin Marbles but attacking its risky, politicised blockbuster exhibitions. ArtWatch UK campaigns to protect the integrity of works of art and architecture from injurious physical treatments and hazardous, exploitative or demeaning actions. Mike has taken part in numerous television and radio debates on the subject.