Guido Fawkes owner Paul Staines is stepping down as editor this week after 20 years leading the political blog.
Staines is passing the reins over to Lord Ross Kempsell, Guido contributing editor and former chief reporter.
Kempsell has been appointed to the role of publisher and will look at how to grow Guido’s audience and revenue, and eventually the size of the newsroom.
Staines will become founding editor, no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the site. The news was announced ahead of Guido’s 20th anniversary dinner being held this week.
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Staines said: “If a week is a long time in politics, 20 years feels like an eternity. I’ve seen six general elections, eight prime ministers, three referendums, plenty of scandal, mountains of ego, masses of mayhem and buckets of bullshit. I’ve also witnessed huge changes to the way politics is covered in this country.
“Guido has launched some brilliant careers, and sunk a few along the way. When I look back I can honestly say that I’ve had more fun and broken more scoops than I can recount. Now feels like the right time to pass the gunpowder to the next generation.”
Staines is stepping aside at the same time as standing up against a libel claim brought by Dale Vince over the reporting of comments the Ecotricity founder made on Times Radio relating to Hamas – even though Guido has previously used “safe haven protection” against legal action because Staines is based in Ireland and the site’s servers are based in Washington DC. He has crowdfunded more than £92,000 in less than a week to fight the case and a preliminary hearing was held on Monday.
Kempsell is planning to focus on Guido as his first media development project and is aiming to grow its audience, revenue and eventually the size of the newsroom.
The current staff, news editor Max Young and senior reporter Ellie Wheatley, are unaffected by the leadership change. Kempsell is understood to be looking at appointing a new editor in due course.
He said: “Paul’s decades of hard work has built an extraordinary media brand with unparalleled influence inside Westminster and beyond. Paul did nothing less than single-handedly revolutionise political reporting in Britain. Loved by its readers and feared by its competitors, Guido is constantly growing in reach and impact.
“I am enormously proud of the newsroom team and I am focused on leading the commercial development of the brand for a new age while maintaining its focus on agenda-setting reporting.”
Kempsell first joined Guido as a reporter in 2017 and has since become known for his roles as Talkradio’s first political editor, in then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s team at Number 10 as a special adviser focused on reform of Whitehall and the public sector and later as a press adviser for after Johnson’s resignation, and as special correspondent at Times Radio focused on home affairs, policing, crime and security.
He was nominated to the Lords in Johnson’s resignation honours list last year aged 31. Kempsell’s PR firm Hyannis Strategy Ltd has assets of £2.6m according to its latest filing with Companies House.
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