New Statesman staff and freelancers alike are keen to know what a new editor will mean for the future of the publication – especially the latter, who are nervously waiting to see whether or not Tom McTague, who joins the paper from right wing opinion website Unherd, plans to get in touch with them before he starts.
Some of those more disillusioned with the latter days of Jason Cowley’s tenure as editor wonder if a new broom will mean a change in political direction or more of the same. Cowley had become increasingly unhappy with any suggestion that the NS either was or should be the house journal of the Labour Party, or even should be seen as left wing. The regular publication of anti-liberals like John Gray or David Goodhart certainly helped reinforce that perception, with a sense the publication was pivoting to be more like, well, Unherd.
Hiring the political editor of Unherd, then, might weirdly be more of a continuity hire than a sign of a change – or it might be a red herring, with McTague planning something entirely different from Cowley. Some of the insiders wonder if the latter is likelier than the former. After all, they note, Cowley was rumoured once to have asked for a description of the New Statesman as a “progressive” outlet to be erased, despite the name of its parent company being… Progressive Media Investments.
