George Eaton is to succeed Rafael Behr as political editor of the New Statesman. Behr will be leaving the NS next month to join the Guardian as a political columnist.
Eaton, the award-winning editor of the magazine’s rolling politics blog, The Staggers, joined the New Statesman in March 2009 as a graduate trainee, having previously worked at PoliticsHome. He has contributed hugely to the successful transformation of newstatesman.com and to the revitalisation of the magazine. He has had a series of impressive scoops over the past year, with agenda-setting stories and interviews with Len McCluskey of Unite, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham and others. Under Eaton’s editorship, The Staggers won the Editorial Intelligence Best Online Comment Site award in 2013.
The New Statesman editor, Jason Cowley, said: “George, who has been with me almost from the start of my editorship, is one of the outstanding journalistic talents of his generation and is one of the most gifted people I have ever worked with. He is both an incisive political commentator and a tenacious and instinctive story-getter.”
Eaton assumes his new role as the New Statesman celebrates its strongest growth in decades. In 2013, its centenary year, magazine subscriptions grew by 20 per cent and news-stand sales by 14 per cent; record online traffic made newstatesman.com the biggest political website in Britain. As circulation continues to rise and the magazine moves into profit, the editorial team is entering an exciting phase of expansion and development. The launch of a series of high-profile digital projects will be announced shortly.
Eaton said: “It is a privilege to take on this position at the most exciting and unpredictable moment in British politics for a generation. I look forward to maintaining and enhancing the New Statesman’s reputation for intellectual rigour, breaking news and political insight.”
Rafael Behr joined the New Statesman in June 2011 from the Observer, where he was chief leader writer. Commenting on his departure, Cowley said: “I knew Rafael from my time on the Observer. I knew, too, that the elegance of his writing, as well as his shrewd and nuanced political insights, would make the New Statesman’s weekly Westminster column a compelling read. Three years on, Rafael has established a reputation as one of Britain’s most authoritative political commentators and played an important part in transforming the fortunes of this great magazine. We shall miss him and he leaves with my best wishes.”
Behr said: “The New Statesman occupies a very special place in British politics, media, history and culture. It has been a privilege to work with the immensely talented team that has made it, without doubt, the liveliest, smartest and most creative weekly magazine covering politics in Britain today.”
For more information, please contact Anya Matthews on 07815 634 396 or anya.matthews@newstatesman.co.uk
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