LONDON – Paul Dacre, the eminent and controversial editor of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper will step down from the job in November, bringing an end to one of the most influential reigns in British journalism.
Dacre has edited the newspaper since 1992, exerting enormous leverage over British public life with a relentless focus on what he believed to be the concerns of middle England, ranging from a tough line on immigration to campaigns against plastic bags.
Dacre has now decided to step down before his 70th birthday and hand over to a new editor. It is understood an announcement on his replacement is due in the coming days, suggesting a candidate has already been identified.
In recent years Dacre has taken a relentlessly pro-Brexit line, using the Daily Mail’s front page to brand judges who ruled parliament must vote on leaving the EU as “enemies of the people” and last month criticised the House of Lords as “dinosaurs in ermine” after it voted to amend Brexit legislation.
Lord Rothermere, the chairman of the Daily Mail’s parent company DMGT, said Dacre was “the greatest Fleet Street editor of his generation” whose “many campaigns, investigations and crusades that have held power to account, given a voice to the voiceless and often set the political agenda through six prime ministerships”.
Dacre will remain with the company as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, in addition to advising Rothermere on the changing media landscape.
In a statement Dacre thanked Rothermere for giving him the freedom to edit without interference and the backing to assemble “Fleet Street’s greatest team of journalists”, something which was worth “more than all the riches of Araby”.
He went on to highlight the topics the newspaper has campaigned on during his tenure, saying: “Whether it has been justice for Stephen Lawrence and the Omagh bomb victims, plastic in supermarkets and in the seas, dignity for the elderly, thwarting Labour’s plans for supercasinos, or putting sepsis and prostate cancer on the map, we have shown that newspapers make a difference.”
“Without the Mail, Gary McKinnon, Shaker Aamer and Marine A would probably be in jail and Afghan British army translators, whose lives are now at risk, would not have the chance to live here.”
He also praised the campaign against state regulation of the press and pledged to “continue playing as great a part in it as ever”.
Dacre’s departure after 26 years in the job will start a fierce competition to succeed him at the newspaper, which sells an average of 1.3m copies a day and continues to have enormous influence over the political agenda. The newspaper’s Saturday edition is now the single biggest newspaper edition in the UK.
Potential candidates to take the job include the Mail on Sunday editor, Geordie Greig, who has regularly clashed with Dacre and supported remain in the EU referendum, , MailOnline editor Martin Clarke, and current Daily Mail deputy editor, Gerard Greaves.
Consistently Britain’s best-paid newspaper editor, last year he took home £2.5m after he received a bonus on top of his £1.45m basic salary.
During his time as editor he built unlikely alliances, becoming good friends with former Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, despite their political differences.
Although DMGT’s newspaper business continues to make healthy profits, the company is changing its focus towards internet businesses under new chief executive Paul Zwillenberg.
Dacre was technically editor-in-chief of the MailOnline website, he repeatedly and publicly made it clear that his newspaper was a very different product with a different editorial line to the celebrity-heavy website.
