A New Editor for Total Politics

Last Friday was a bit sad. It was the day Total Politics editor Sarah MacKinlay left her job to start up a new PR company called Journalista. Having just put her 15th issue to bed, Sarah can look back on her 18 months as editor of the magazine with pride. When I appointed her I knew she was being thrown in at the deep end, but she rose to the challenge magnificently. I know we are all going to miss her terribly, but I am glad to say she will still be writing the odd piece for us.

I know what a challenge it is to start up a new business in a recession. Journalista, among other things, will be doing PR for politicians and other participants in the world of politics. As you might be able to tell from the farewell cover my colleagues organised for her, Sarah is not backward in coming forward with her opinions! We all wish her the very best of luck and thank her for her sterling work for the magazine.

Her replacement as editor is Ben Duckworth, who has also been with the magazine since the beginning. Up until now he has been TP's political editor.

We have also recruited a new political correspondent, Amber Elliott, who joins us from Dods, where she has been Lobby and Parliamentary Reporter for Dods Monitoring. We had some excellent applicants for the job, at least eight of whom would have done the job brilliantly. I hate this process as you have to say 'no' to some really good people. Amber's appointment signals a determination on our part to rethink the TP website and make it much more newsy and content driven.

In a small team, change is always challenging, but I am glad we have maintained continuity with Ben's appointment and I think Amber will bring a lot of flair to the job judging by the ideas she put forward at her interview.

But the main point of this post is to thank Sarah MacKinlay for her time with us and to send her on her way with our very best wishes. Sarah, it's been a blast!