Neil steps down as chair of Spectator after £100m sale

Political journalist Andrew Neil has resigned as chair of The Spectator after 20 years at the helm. Neil spoke of his great sadness” at stepping down after the immense privilege” of chairing the world’s oldest current affairs magazine. Financier and GB News investor Sir Paul Marshall becomes the 196-year-old magazine’s 14th proprietor.

- ALEX CROFT

Neil wrote on X/Twitter: “During [the past 20 years] we have transformed the oldest magazine in the world, established in the age of the quill pen, into one of the most successful publications of the digital age, growing revenues rapidly across all digital platforms while still maintaining a very healthy print circulation.”

He said he was “proud” of the people behind the magazine, which “has never been more profitable, its reach never wider, at home and abroad”. Neil added that his proudest recollection of his time in charge is that he did not “preside over a single compulsory redundancy in 20 years”, during an era of cost-cutting in the legacy print media.

Explaining the “purgatory” of the last 16 months – after the Barclay family put the magazine up for sale – Neil said: “Suddenly and without warning we were placed in receivership, because our then proprietors had used us as collateral for massive debts unrelated to us (without ever telling us). They then failed to pay these debts.”