The downfall of The Guardian

With Labour in power, the paper should be driving the agenda - instead, it's at war with itself

- CHRIS BLACKHURST

Last week was traumatic in the life of The Guardian. Donald Trump's resounding victory prompted editor Katharine Viner to offer counselling to staff. Viner said the election had "exposed alarming fault lines on many fronts" and urged journalists based in the UK to contact colleagues in the US "to offer your support".

Viner said that the result would be "upsetting for many others" according to the Guido Fawkes website, adding: “If you want to talk about it, your manager and members of the leadership team are all available, as is the People team. There is also access to free support services." Having staked its all, editorially, on defeating Trump, who could not be more diametrically opposed to The Guardian, the paper was bound to have egg on its face. Its journalists were crushed, but therapy? There was another way of viewing Trump's win, which was that for the Left-wing title, it presented a tremendous commercial opportunity. During a similarly difficult time for The Guardian - the reign of Margaret Thatcher - the newspaper enjoyed a boom period. When Thatcher won the 1979 election, its average sale was 379,000; by the time she quit in 1990 it was 434,000. With that also came an expanded publication, one that was firing on all cylinders and possessing a passionate investigative purpose.