Times editor Robert Thomson has lured ex-BBC Today editor Rod Liddle from The Guardian to be one of his new writers on the relaunched Saturday edition of the paper.
He is expected to announce other big-name writers who will contribute to the new edition, out on 6 September.
Liddle has been writing a column for The Guardian for the past two years. He stood down as editor of the Today programme last October after the controversy over his Guardian column which criticised the Countryside Alliance. Among the most vociferous complainers about Liddle was Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore.
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Liddle will write about culture and politics in his new column. He said: “It seemed like an exciting role. I will be a roving culture type, so I will go and see something from the arts and have fun writing about it from a culture perspective rather than a straight review. I will also be doing some stuff for the op-ed pages. Oh, and I get better paid.”
He said he would be covering a variety of events from the Glyndebourne opera and the Edinburgh festival to pub quizzes. “It should be as varied as possible. Everything that makes up our pleasure, basically. But I shall miss The Guardian. It was a lovely place to work and the people there are great.”
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By Mary Stevens
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