Does Nelson want more than a column?

For a time, it was almost as if British journalism had a transfer window, such was the pace of the revolving door between News UK and the Spectator. The Spec first nabbed one-time former Rupert Murdoch favourite – and rumoured future editor of the Times – Michael Gove to be its editor, and he was soon followed out of the door by political editor Tim Shipman, on a deal rumoured to be around £250,000 a year.

The Sunday Times didn’t sit idly by as its stable was poached. It hired Spectator political editor Katy Balls as its US correspondent, and assistant editor Cindy Yu as a columnist, with both reputedly very happy with their new pay packets.

But it’s the third Spectator signing that’s really getting attention in the newspaper’s office – former Spectator editor Fraser Nelson, who joined as a
columnist after being replaced by Gove following the magazine’s purchase by GB News proprietor Paul Marshall.

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Rats in a Sack

The ambitious and emollient Nelson has been engaged in an all-out charm offensive across the Times and its Sunday title, being a visible presence in
the office, taking colleagues out for lunches and dinners, and even organising a columnists’ party – though he missed a step by leaving off several of his female colleagues, much to their irritation once they found out. The email system was blamed for the errors.

That glad-handing has insiders wondering whether Nelson is hoping that if an editor’s chair was being kept warm for Gove, there might be a chance for a new contender to take his place. Uneasy is the head that wears the crown, and all that.

Meanwhile, the poaching war seems to have cooled off, with an uneasy truce
breaking out. Even Gove has returned as a regular guest on Times Radio, where he had been persona non grata.