Briefing, the official magazine for the Catholic church, has relaunched with an exclusive interview with former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
Duncan Smith gave the exclusive 3,500-word interview to the Catholic Communications Service’s acting director and head of news, Oliver Wilson, in which he spoke openly about his ousting and being axed from the Tory party.
Wilson, a former Sunday Telegraph, CNN and Daily Star reporter, said: “It was a tremendous coup to land an exclusive interview with Iain Duncan Smith for Briefing.
“He seemed angry and upset at the way he had been treated by his own party and was trying to come to terms with what had happened, dusting himself down to fight another day.”
The title which received widespread coverage in the press for the scoop, relaunched this week.
Wilson said the team had a “holistic strategy” for the revamp. “The editor, Dominic Baster, and associate editor, Primavera Quantrill, have made the 88-page relaunch issue one of the finest in the magazine’s 37-year history,” he said.
In addition to the Duncan Smith interview, the issue features a diary by Cardinal Keith Patrick O’Brien, Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, and Chris Bain, on his recent meeting with US President George W Bush.
Briefing is published bimonthly and sold at Christian bookshops, churches and other Catholic outlets.
By Ruth Addicott
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