The Evening Standard will run two daily editions during the general election campaign, new editor George Osborne has said as he claimed Brexit was an “historic mistake” in his first leader column.
The temporary move back to two editions comes after the Standard dropped to a single daily edition in February with a proposal that some sub-editors would be moved to half days and half pay.
After putting out his first edition as a full-time editor yesterday with the headline: “Brussels twists knife on Brexit”, Osborne’s following second edition toned it down to: “UK hits back at Brussels leak.”
Under the previous model, the Standard’s first edition went to press at about 11am with a second “slip” edition going out at about 12.30pm for later breaking news, which would get into the last few hundred thousand copies of the daily 900,000 print run.
Osborne said on Twitter yesterday: “There used to be one edition but we’re going to be running two editions during the election, to get reaction to news & stories thru the day.”
After the paper hit the streets of London, Osborne was pictured with an Evening Standard distributor while holding his first edition.
At the end of my first day, with Pete -one of the many people who make up the great team @EveningStandard. Thanks for all the help today pic.twitter.com/it9UV20X1Q
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) May 2, 2017
As well as announcing the return of a daily political cartoon to the paper, Osborne used his first leader column to take a swipe at the Prime Minister at the start of Brexit negotiations.
The newspaper said: “The British people were asked last year whether we should remain in or leave the European Union. Although the majority of Londoners wanted to remain, the country – by a small but clear margin – voted to leave.
“This paper respects that democratic decision, even though it continues to believe it to be an historic mistake.
“The negotiations over Brexit have only just started and already we see how unrealistic were the claims made about the strength of Britain’s hand – as the account of the Prime Minister’s dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European commission, published in Germany reveals…
“The country should prepare for more tough days ahead as reality bites”.
In an apparent direct attack on Theresa May’s oft-repeated phrase “strong and stable government” he said: “There’s nothing wrong with repeating election campaign slogans; the problem comes when the election campaign amounts to no more than a slogan.
“If you ask for a blank cheque, don’t be surprised if later it bounces.”
Picture: Victoria Jones/PA Wire
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