Former editor of the Telegraph’s Mandrake diary column Tim Walker has been recruited by the Daily Mirror to beef up its general election coverage.
Walker left the Telegraph at the end of last year amid a round of redundancies that saw 55 journalists go.
He will be writing for the Mirror from Monday and throughout the general election campaign.
Asked how he felt about switching from the Telegraph to the Mirror, he said: "I've already gone from The Observer to the Mail by way of The European.
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"On Mandrake, I never cared if the stories we ran embarrassed the Tories or Labour. All that mattered to me was that they were good stories. I am a journalist first, last and always.
“One of the biggest scoops we had was about George Osborne being on the Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska's yacht and that was certainly not helpful to the Tories.
"The idea with this column is to make mischief during the campaign and I guess I have a certain aptitude for that. I last worked for the Mirror group when they were launching The European and that was the most fun I ever had in my career.
“I remember all-too-many nights spent at the old Stab pub in Holborn. The Mirror is a great media organisation with a proud history and I am thrilled to be working for it again under the brilliant Peter Willis."
Daily Mirror weekday editor Willis said: "We are delighted that Tim Walker will be adding a point of difference to the Daily Mirror's election coverage with a regular diary-style column throughout the campaign. Tim is a highly experienced and respected journalist who has a proven track record of breaking great stories."
Walker joins a Mirror election team which includes: associate editor Kevin Maguire, political editor Jason Beattie, deputy political editor Jack Blanchard, Ben Glaze, Lee Harpin, Shiraz Lalani and Andrew Gregory.
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