New Owner, and Editor, Take Over U.K.’s Spectator

Push into U.S. might help justify $131 million purchase price

[The Editors is called The Editors, plural, not The Editor, singular, for a reason. When I launched it, a shrewd friend advised, “it can’t just be you.” I’m delighted to start introducing some additional voices. Today’s comes from Michael Mosbacher, who is associate comment editor at London's Daily Telegraph. He is a past editor of Standpoint and The Critic, having co-founded both British magazines.—Ira Stoll.]

The newly named editor of the Spectator, Michael Gove, a Times journalist before being elected to Parliament in 2005, has been a leading Conservative voice over the past 20 years. Picture: U.K. government.

London’s Spectator, the most influential English-language conservative weekly outside the United States (now, there is a niche claim), has a new owner—and a new editor is bringing out his first issue this week. This is not purely a parochial matter for those interested in Westminster politics (although it most definitely is that too); it has lessons for the future of conservative journalism generally. 

If the plans of the new owner work out, the title will become much more visible in the United States. The magazine sold for over £100 million ($131 million) – quite a premium for a title with fixed assets of just £850,000 ($1.1 million), whose most recent annual accounts report operating profits of £2.6 million ($3.4 million) on a turnover of £20.8 million ($27 million). 

The price only makes sense if the purchaser believes it can hugely increase its number of subscribers. The most obvious place with a sufficiently large market for classy English-language conservative commentary is the U.S.