ROSIE Boycott, the editor of the Daily Express, has left the paper ''by mutual agreement'' ending a brief and acrimonious relationship with its new owner.
Ms Boycott, arguably the most successful female newspaper editor in history, and her deputy Chris Blackhurst, have been in negotiations for the past six weeks about their future after Richard Desmond, the soft porn and celebrity magazine publisher, bought the Express, Sunday Express and Daily Star in a #125m deal two months ago.
A joint statement from the company and Ms Boycott said the pair, who have held their positions for the past two years, would leave with ''immediate effect''.
Chris Williams, the paper's former associate editor, will become the new editor.
It has been widely publicised that Ms Boycott, a leading feminist and the former editor of the Independent and Independent on Sunday, became concerned about the direction of the paper.
She is said to have been unable to see eye-to-eye with Mr Desmond, who is said to revel in the title ''people's pornographer''.
Doubts about her future arose as soon as Mr Desmond, whose company Northern and Shell also publishes OK! and several pornographic magazines, bought the titles and changed the Express's front-cover story without her consent to promote OK!
Their relationship deteriorated when she refused to supply a ''redundancy list'' of journalists. The pair are understood not to have spoken since December 15.
Yesterday, Ms Boycott said: ''I would like to wish the newspaper, its staff and the new proprietor well in their endeavours to build on the great name and tradition of the Daily Express.''
She said she was ''fantastically proud'' of the work she had done with the paper but said she wanted a new start.
''I think Richard Desmond wants a new start. I wish him all the best of luck with the paper. We are parting extremely amicably. We had an amicable divorce and, as with all good divorces, the details will remain confidential. I adore the paper so I am sad to go.''
Ms Boycott became the first woman to edit a national broadsheet when she took over the Independent on Sunday in 1996.
Before that she spent four years as editor of men's magazine Esquire and almost doubled its circulation. She won an editor of the year award in 1993 and 1994.
Chris Williams, the new editor, began his journalistic career with the Press Association before joining the Daily Express in 1977 where he worked for 10 years, rising to the rank of features editor.
In 1987 he joined the Daily Mail, also as features editor, before returning to the Express in 1995 as executive editor.
Paul Ashford, the editorial director of Northern and Shell, said Mr Williams was ''an experienced and talented journalist whose appointment ensures the editorial continuity of the newspaper''.
Mr Williams said: ''It has always been my ambition to edit the Daily Express and it is a particular privilege to do so at this exciting time with a new proprietor and new challenges.''
Kerry Gill, the Scottish editor of the Express, said he welcomed the change. He said he expected it to have no effect on the 50 jobs in Scotland.
Roy Greenslade, a media commentator, said Ms Boycott's departure was ''hardly unexpected'' although he said he was ''baffled'' as to Mr Desmond's long-term plans for the group of titles.
Ms Boycott and her deputy are the latest in an exodus of senior staff from the Daily Express. Peter Hitchens, the paper's most senior columnist, resigned in December after 24 years, along with Anthony Bevins, the political editor, and several other top writers.
Mr Desmond said he wants Express sales, which have sunk to a little more than 1m copies, to eventually overtake the Daily Mail, which sells about 2.5m daily. He succeeded in turning OK!, a loss-making title, into the market leader by paying out huge sums for celebrity exclusives, such as the #1m reportedly spent on David and Victoria Beckham's wedding.
But he still had to borrow #97m to buy Express newspapers, and has embarked on a savage cost-cutting programme since taking over the Express titles.
He has also put his portfolio of soft porn magazines up for sale.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article