Britain: The editor of Britain's best-selling broadsheet newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, resigned yesterday amid speculation about a clash with the newspaper's Canadian-born owner, Mr Conrad Black.
Mr Charles Moore, who steered the conservative-leaning newspaper through a brutal industry slump, is stepping down after eight years in charge and will concentrate on writing the official biography of Lady Thatcher.
He is replaced by former Telegraph news editor Martin Newland. Rumours about the future of the 46-year-old editor have swirled in recent months as the Telegraph's daily circulation slid below one million and Lord Black's sprawling publishing empire came under increasing financial pressure.
Lord Black has for long considered the British newspaper a key asset in his media group which spans the United States, Britain and Israel, and includes titles such as The Jerusalem Post and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Under Lord Black's ownership and Mr Moore's editorship, the Telegraph has become virulently anti-EU, trenchantly against the peace process in Northern Ireland (Mr Moore even went so far as to campaign personally against the changes to the RUC) and firmly opposed to the British Labour government of Mr Tony Blair.
Nonetheless, Mr Moore successfully repositioned the newspaper to give it greater appeal to younger readers, thereby reducing its dependency on elderly ones. The paper also championed rural issues without alienating urban middle England readers.
However, despite circulation slipping to 900,000, the paper remains Britain's biggest-selling daily broadsheet by a large margin.