Michael Gove takes helm in new era for The Spectator

Michael Gove has been appointed as editor of The Spectator magazine after its takeover by Sir Paul Marshall, the GB News co-owner, The Telegraph can reveal.

The controversial former Cabinet minister will begin his new job on Oct 4 just over three months after he stood down as an MP. It means he will be at the helm of the magazine known as the “Tory Bible” as the Conservative Party leadership election reaches its climax.

He will take over from Fraser Nelson, who has achieved record print circulation figures during his 15 years in the job as well as making a success of its digital subscription strategy.

It was also announced that Lord Moore, a former editor of The Spectator and The Telegraph, will become The Spectator’s non-executive chairman, replacing Andrew Neil.

Mr Gove’s appointment will not only give him a major platform for shaping opinion around who should be the next Tory leader, but it also suggests a shift in emphasis at the influential magazine, which was fiercely opposed to the Covid lockdowns that Mr Gove championed while in government.

Mr Gove is a divisive figure in Conservative circles, having scuppered Boris Johnson’s 2016 leadership bid by standing against him after promising he would back him. It earned him a reputation as a backstabber that has stayed with him ever since.

Mr Johnson, himself a former editor of The Spectator, had run the successful Vote Leave campaign with him before they became rivals.

Mr Gove will take over as editor of the magazine three weeks before the end of the Tory leadership contest. He has in the past been a vocal supporter of Kemi Badenoch, though their relationship is said to have cooled in recent months. She told a hustings event last month that she was not “controlled” by the former housing secretary.

Mr Gove is thought to have sought the approval of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which must approve any job taken by an ex-minister within two years of leaving government.

Mr Nelson, who is also a Telegraph columnist, is expected to leave the world’s oldest weekly magazine, which had become so successful under his stewardship that Sir Paul outbid Rupert Murdoch to pay £100 million for it earlier this month, around twice what it had been expected to sell for.

Mr Gove’s divisiveness in the Conservative Party was not confined to his long-running rivalry with Mr Johnson. David Cameron, now Lord Cameron, described him in his autobiography as “mendacious” after falling out with him over Brexit and said of him: “One quality shone through, disloyalty.”

Liz Truss described him as “that snake” after he helped undermine her brief premiership by saying he would not vote for her Budget when it was put before Parliament.

Sir Paul, who made his fortune as the co-founder of the hedge fund group Marshall Wace, is a former member of the Liberal Democrats who switched his allegiance to the Conservative Party because he supported Brexit.

He is co-owner of GB News and owner of the news website UnHerd, and is part of a consortium that has previously expressed an interest in buying Telegraph Media Group, the sale of which is ongoing.

Earlier this month, veteran journalist Mr Neil resigned as chairman of The Spectator with a parting shot at Sir Paul.

He told its staff: “My greatest regret is that I have not been able to find you a new home guaranteed to nurture the unique chemistry of The Spectator, which makes it so special and successful,” said Mr Neil.

“You can have all the resources in the world but if you don’t understand what really makes The Spectator tick then they will be as nought.”

He also urged Sir Paul not to interfere in editorial matters, saying: “I regarded it as my prime responsibility for 20 years to ensure [editorial independence], protecting the editor not just from outside pressures, commercial or political, but even from proprietors,” said Mr Neil.

“I cannot tell if the new owners will have the same reverence for editorial independence since they have not shared their thinking.”

Mr Gove and Sir Paul share a belief in the need for a more responsible form of capitalism, and in March, Mr Gove defended Sir Paul in the House of Commons during a debate about extremism.

Sir Paul had “liked” a tweet that said “civil war is coming” because of the increasing proportion of Muslims making up the population of Britain, which Labour criticised. Mr Gove said: “I deprecate the personal attack on Sir Paul”, describing him as “a distinguished philanthropist”.

Mr Gove’s new job marks a return to the career he left when he became an MP in 2005. He was assistant editor of The Times, having started his career in journalism working on The Telegraph’s Peterborough column.

Mr Gove is not the first former Cabinet minister to become an editor: George Osborne, the former chancellor, was appointed editor of The Evening Standard in 2017 by its owner Lord Lebedev, but he was unable to halt its decline during his three years in the job. Earlier this month, the newspaper ceased daily publication and moved to a weekly print publication model to cut costs.

Sir Paul bought The Spectator through his Old Queen Street Media company, which owns UnHerd. Its chief executive is Freddie Sayers, who is now publisher of The Spectator.

After the takeover, he promised that UnHerd and The Spectator would “remain fully separate titles, with independent editorial and governance structures”.

Mr Sayers said: “To be editor of The Spectator requires a rare breadth of intellectual interests and depth of journalistic experience.

“Alongside his political and journalistic nous, Michael brings a love of books, philosophy, art, opera – and a mischievous sense of humour. He is perfectly suited to this role, and I can’t wait to work together to bring The Spectator to new audiences.

“Fraser has achieved huge success over his 15 years as editor, modernising and building The Spectator into a formidable media brand. I am delighted that he will continue to write and, as Associate Editor, be part of The Spectator family.”

Lord Moore said: “The Spectator thrives because of its free spirit and editorial independence. Having been continuously associated with the paper for more than a fifth of its nearly 200-year history, I am honoured to have been asked to be its chairman. I look forward to its future being even greater than its past.”

Mr Nelson said: “There’s never a good time to leave a job like mine but, after 15 years and a new owner with big ambitions, there is an obvious time. In many ways, Michael is the obvious successor.

“He’s a first-class journalist who took a detour into politics, he was my news editor when I was a young reporter at The Times and he first declared his ambition to edit The Spectator in an Aberdeen classroom at the age of seven. Now, aged 57, he has made it. His experience, combined with his journalistic skills and the quality of the team around him, will make for quite a potent combination.

“Charles was made editor of The Spectator aged 27 and went on to edit The Daily Telegraph. His remit as chairman will be to safeguard editorial independence and I can think of no one better-suited to The Spectator chairmanship.”

Mr Gove has been contacted by The Telegraph for comment.