LONDON – Michael Gove, who was a longtime U.K. Cabinet minister under successive Conservative Party governments, has been appointed the editor of The Spectator, one of the world’s oldest political magazines.
Wednesday's announcement came little more than two weeks after hedge fund manager Paul Marshall bought the magazine via his company Old Queen Street Ventures. The Spectator has a long-standing reputation of supporting the Conservative Party and providing intellectual ballast to its discussions both in and out of power.
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Marshall, who was worth 875 million pounds ($1.2 billion) in the most recent Sunday Times Rich List of people resident in the U.K., is already the co-owner of GB News, which launched three years ago as a right-leaning, Fox News-style British alternative to mainstream news channels.
“Alongside his political and journalistic nous, Michael brings a love of books, philosophy, art, opera — and a mischievous sense of humor," said Freddie Sayers, chief executive of new owner OQS. “He is perfectly suited to this role, and I can’t wait to work together to bring The Spectator to new audiences.”
Gove, who served in the successive governments of Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, will take up his new role at the start of October. Gove served in a variety of Cabinet positions from 2010 until July, when the Conservative Party suffered its worst election defeat for nearly two centuries. The Tories lost power after 14 years, with the Labour Party taking the reins.
Before he became a lawmaker after the 2005 general election, Gove had been a prominent journalist at The Times and was considered a close confidante of its owner Rupert Murdoch.
The Spectator is one of the world’s oldest politics and current affairs magazines, established in 1828 in London’s Old Queen Street, which has given its name to Marshall's OQS venture.