Former Scots Tory MP Michael Gove has been announced as the new editor of The Spectator magazine. The Aberdeen native replaces fellow Scot Fraser Nelson as the boss of the conservative magazine.
It comes after Paul Marshall, the owner of GB News, bought the publication in a multi-million pound deal. Gove served in various cabinet positions under David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.
Paisley-born and raised Andrew Neil has already left his role as the magazine’s chairman, being replaced by former Telegraph editor and Tory peer Charles Moore.
Gove served as an MP for 19 years, representing the seat of Surrey Heath from 2005 until June this year. He ran for the Tory leadership in 2016 and 2019, coming third on both occasions. He was educated at the private Robert Gordon College and worked as a journalist at the Press and Journal, STV and The Times.
Nelson, from Nairn in the north of Scotland, had been editor of the magazine for 15 years. He studied at Glasgow University and was editor of the Glasgow University Guardian while he was there. He worked at The Times and The Scotsman before joining The Spectator.
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 clear successor.
“He’s a first-class journalist who took a detour into politics and not (as so often happens) the other way around. He was my news editor when I was a young reporter at the Times and even then he was writing Spectator cover stories and being tipped as a future editor.
“His hinterland, love of mischief, intellectual depth, energy, sense of humour and – most importantly – love of good writing make him perfect for the job.
“Having known him for so long, I know (for example) that 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.
“He might have taken a circuitous route but his experience, combined with his journalistic skills and the quality of the Spectator team around him, will make for quite a potent combination. Perhaps most importantly, he’s also from the north-east of Scotland.”
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