Stop press: UK grappling with a politician becoming editor
Journalists and editors becoming politicians is no longer news, but a top politician taking over as the editor of an influential newspaper after losing office has the same news value as the proverbial man biting a dog - and given the history of journalism and politics, Britain is today agonising over this conundrum.
The man in the headlines is George Osborne, who, as chancellor of the exchequer less than a year ago was the powerful number 2 in the David Cameron government. He, like his boss, opposed Brexit, but became part of the political collateral damage inflicted by the vote to leave the European Union.
Sacked by Theresa May when she took over as prime minister, Osborne, 45, continues to be a Conservative member of parliament, and earn large sums on the US speakers circuit and working for a major asset manager. But his latest role has caused much hand-wringing.
Osborne was last week named editor of ‘Evening Standard’, London’s powerful free tabloid handed out mainly across the capital’s busy transport network. He was appointed to the post held until recently by Amol Rajan, who moved to the BBC as its media editor. Osborne’s editorial appointment has media experts and politicians worked up. Journalism is supposed to hold power to account - so what happens when a serving MP, very much in the forefront of parliamentary politics, is tasked with that key watchdog role on behalf of the people?
Unlike several journalists who have gone into British politics, Osborne had failed to get a place on The Times’ trainee scheme, was rejected for a job in The Economist, but did some freelance column writing for The Daily Telegraph before joining the Conservative central office in the early 1990s.
By all accounts, Osborne is enjoying the reaction to his appointment, as critics discuss issues such as conflict of interest and the ability to juggle fulltime commitments of an MP as well as an editor.