Three weeks ago, Geordie Greig took over as editor of The Independent. During his three years at the helm of the Daily Mail, Greig turned the traditionally Tory-backing paper into an anti-Boris headline generator, driven by personal grudges between the two dating back to their time at Eton; from Paterson to Wallpapergate, he hounded the then-PM. Now at The Indy, nothing has changed. In three weeks readers have been bombarded with frontpage splashes about Boris. A counterintuitively obsessive move that only serves to keep him in the minds of voters and therefore better positioned for a comeback…
On the 14th, the paper led with “Loose cannon’ Boris told: Stay out of Ukraine”.
On the 15th we got “‘Johnson for PM’ plot splits warring Tories”.
On the 16th it was “Boris embroiled in new financial row”.
On the 18ththe splash was “Ex-Brexit secretary David Davis warns: Back off, Boris… or you’ll consign Tories to 10 years in the wilderness”
The 21stwas “Voters tell Boris: We don’t want you back in No 10″
Boris ignored Greig’s warning of the 14th and turned up in Ukraine yesterday for a triumphant reunion with Zelenskyy.
The Telegraph, Express, Times, Mail, Metro and Guardian all splashed with the photos of his visit today. Oddly for the Boris-obsessed Independent, there’s no mention of the visit.
Geordie Greig may not have wanted Boris to go to Ukraine – judging from these vox pops at the weekend however, it’s clear Ukrainians did…
Overnight, news broke that Geordie Greig, the previously-ousted editor of the Daily Mail, is now the Editor in Chief of The Independent. Greig is a known quantity for Independent owner Lord Lebedev, for whom he has been acting as an adviser and previously worked at the Evening Standard. The move comes as the paper looks to expand its “global reach”. Speaking on his appointment, Greig said:
“I am delighted to become Editor in Chief of The Independent, the only title that has successfully made the transition from national newspaper to global news platform, whilst maintaining editorial integrity and remaining profitable throughout. The Independent is the UK’s leading quality digital title… I look forward to leading the brilliant editorial team that is successfully making journalism a force for good.”
The claim that The Independent is the UK’s “leading quality digital title” relies on the convenient exclusion of Mail Online from audience figures. Could Geordie be holding a grudge…
The great new hope of Lord Rothermere for the digital future that is the Mail+ venture is making half its staff redundant this week. Redundancy notices have gone out, though not for his son, 26 year-old Vere Rothermere, who is finding his way in the family business at Mail+.
Readers and media commentators might be a little confused by the fierce competition between the Daily Mail’s editor Geordie Grieg, Mail Online edited by Martin Clark and Mail+, which was managed by Tristan Davies until he too got the boot a few weeks ago. They all jealously compete against each other for resources and star hacks’ time. The Mail on Sunday less so, although it too has to resentfully cough up content to to Mail Online. It was noticeable that in his prematurely boastful interview in GQ, Geordie Grieg overlooked mentioning Mail+ for some reason..
Mail+, unlike Mail Online, charged for content which was a bit more upmarket than updates about Kim Kardashian’s bottom. It doesn’t appear that people are willing to pay for it though. Sadly this means they are cutting back half their staff. Guido thought something was up when he noticed that many of their podcasts – which they gave away free – were not being updated. The politics podcast was last updated in July. Just as well nothing has happened in politics…
For a new media venture it appears to be getting little traction, despite big name stars like Andrew Pierce tweeting out daily made-for-social videos, interviews with and stories about the royals, reports from Michael Crick and content from star columnists, Mail+ has a mere 3,535 followers on Twitter. The approach isn’t working…
N.B. If you have top-notch digital audio/video production skills and are looking for work – do get in touch team@order-order.com.
Guido picked up a copy of this month’s painfully woke GQ, which has just hit the news stands. In it the Daily Mail’s editor, Geordie Grieg, has granted only the second interview of his editorship. The first interview with the FT resulted in a complete car crash after he dissed the great Paul Dacre to such a degree that Dacre wrote to the FT to deliver a monumental slap down to his successor. His second interview is timed to coincide with the Daily Mail finally surpassing The Sun in daily sales. Or as the hagiographic Matt Kelly puts it:
“… now the Mail has in all actualité, attained the one great prize to elude even Dacre, you’d have to have a heart of pure weapons-grade vitriol to begrudge Grieg and his team their moment in the sun, as they passed The Sun to become the bestselling newspaper in the country.”
This interview was done in June, before the newspaper industry forced ABC to cease publishing sales figures that have dramatically plummeted during the pandemic. Guido however has managed to prise open the undisclosed ABC circulation figures and can reveal that The Sun in July returned to being the tabloid primus inter pares. Geordie’s day in the sun was short and the interview’s whole premise was overtaken in July by cold hard print sales figures…
The latest figures (not published) by the Audit Bureau of Circulation show that in July The Sun outsold the Daily Mail by 1,030,000 to 999,000 – both titles down double digit percentages from pre-pandemic. Geordie doesn’t have much luck with his annual interviews…
Ovens have been the hot topic in Westminster today with James Brokenshire getting a roasting after the Daily Mail’s double-page spread revealed his kitchen is kitted out with a generous four ovens. One person who should know a fair bit about multiple ovens is Daily Mail editor Geordie Greig. Greig recently became the proud owner of a stonking Grade II*-listed mansion. The kitchen is equipped with no fewer than SIX ovens…
Guido can count at least four Aga ovens along with one of Brokenshire’s “normal double ovens”. There may well be a microwave oven lurking out of shot too. And that’s before you even count his London home…
The Gothic revival “family home” and four estate cottages were on the market for £3.75 million just a couple of years ago before the Mail man snaffled it up. Greig has over 21 acres to enjoy …
The mansion’s 8,000 plus square feet are full of authentic period features, including working period fireplaces spread around the four reception rooms. There are a whole six bathrooms, one for each oven…
That’s just the house – if Geordie gets a bit hot after too much cooking, there’s always the heated swimming pool to cool off in with its own bar and shower area, while the outbuildings include four cottages in the grounds and two “double garages”. Or does that count as four?
It is a good time to be a Times columnist. Smarting from having Quentin Letts lifted from their pages to be spread across News UK’s titles, Daily Mail editor Geordie Grieg is on the hunt for columnists to fill the inches previously filled by Quentin. He is looking to nab a Times columnist in revenge. Rumour is that Giles Coren has been an object of his attention, as has the well-remunerated Jeremy Clarkson. So far we understand he has been rebuffed…
