Fishburn Hedges

07.06.2010

I’ve never been a massive fan of Prospect – Private Eye or The Beano is more my style – but I do respect what David Goodhart has achieved over the last 15 years, creating a forum for serious debate in the printed media. Now must be the right time to pass on the baton, with the New Labour era, which Prospect so ably critiqued, replaced by coalition politics. However a smart guy like David must realise that by remaining “editor-at-large” makes the role of editor of Prospect a poison chalice.

Organisations can only ever afford one boss – as was shown by the Blair-Brown axis. The record of a charismatic leader handing over the reins while still remaining involved is not good - look at Stelios at EasyJet, Sir Matt Busby at Manchester United or, in the publishing world, Simon Kelner at The Independent. Even if David can avoid interfering, the new editor will constantly try to second guess what David wants or worse, make decisions based on doing the opposite to what he’d think David would do simply to show his independence.