Observer associate editor, Andrew Rawnsley, has today resigned as editor-in-chief of PoliticsHome.com after the site was sold to Lord Ashcroft, the deputy chairman of the Conservative party.
Rawnsley said he took up the role of editor-in-chief on the understanding that PoliticsHome was a non-partisan, independent site.
He said: “It was essential for users of the site that they could feel absolute confidence in the political independence of PoliticsHome.
“I do not believe that can be compatible with being under the ownership of the deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.”
Related
Rawnsley’s departure follows the announcement yesterday that Ashcroft and Politics Home chairman Stephan Shakespeare had taken a 57.5% stake in a new company that would oversee the website, along with ConservativeHome and ConservativeIntelligence
Ashcroft bought a stake in Tim Montgomerie’s ConservativeHome blog last week and is also the backer of Iain Dale’s Total Politics magazine.
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