Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre has pulled out of the contest to be the next head of media regulator Ofcom.
In a letter to The Times newspaper, the 73-year-old has revealed he will not reapply for the role and will instead be taking up an “exciting new job in the private sector”.
This is despite the government having restarted the recruitment process for a new Ofcom chair earlier this year, after Mr Dacre was rejected by an interview board in an initial contest.
Mr Dacre was widely reported to have been Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s favoured candidate for the £142,500 per year position.
In his letter, he said that “many senior members of the government” had been urging him to try again, as he blasted civil servants “who really run this country”.
The government has previously denied it took the unusual decision to re-run the recruitment process – with re-drafted job requirements – in order to give Mr Dacre a better chance at being appointed on a second attempt.
Ofcom is the independent regulator for UK communications services, including the postal service, home and mobile phones, broadband, TV and radio.
Mr Dacre was editor of the Daily Mail for 26 years before becoming chair of the paper’s parent company in 2018.
He left that role – ending his 42-year association with the Daily Mail – earlier this month.
In his letter to The Times, Mr Dacre described his experience of applying for the Ofcom role as an “infelicitous dalliance with the Blob” and claimed the civil service had influenced the process because of his political “convictions”.
He wrote: “To anyone from the private sector, who, God forbid, has convictions, and is thinking of applying for a public appointment, I say the following: The civil service will control (and leak) everything; the process could take a year in which your…
Source : skynews
