Interestingly, she will not be inheriting Sands’s paper so much as her predecessor Dominic Lawson’s Sands made few appointments during her eight-month rule. But the core staff, such as acting editor Richard Ellis, “Seven” magazine editor Susannah Herbert, assistant editor Topaz Amoore and sports editor Jon Ryan, have stayed.”It’s like a piece of elastic,” says a staffer. “It was stretched under Sarah and as soon as she left, we just returned to Dominic’s way of doing things.”The much-derided glossy magazine, “Stella”, looks set to stay in some form, but there is talk of a return to the old Gothic masthead.The former City editor, Robert Peston, who left to become the BBC’s business editor in February, believes there is a middle way “There is lots of potential,” he says. “If I were in Patience’s shoes, I would both reinforce Sarah’s achievements in broadening the newspaper’s appeal while reinforcing the paper’s traditional areas.
These are not mutually exclusive ambitions.” Others, though, say the issue of the ageing readership is being ducked.Wheatcroft may find the Barclays’ purse strings quite tight, and her changes, probably to news, sport and business, are at first likely to be evolutionary. She is expected to want her old friend Andrew Pierce, the assistant editor of The Times, on board, but she has a three month no-poaching agreement with The Times, so the earliest that could happen is July, coinciding with the Telegraph Group’s move from Canary Wharf to Victoria. Its City editor, George Trefgarne, may also be in line for a reshuffle.The move is expected to precipitate more restructuring, but, as one source who knows the current management style puts it wearily: “There is no strategy.” Wheatcroft may be joining the paper at an ideal moment. It is in urgent need of a sense of direction and she may be the one to provide that, but she will need time.However, for The Sunday Telegraph and its readers, tired of revolution, a little patience might be all that’s wanted now.STEPHEN GLOVERMedia comentator, ‘The independent’”It would be good if Patience Wheatcroft was seen to have the support of Murdoch McLennan and John Bryant, something they didn’t do with Sarah [Sands]. They also need to work out what kind of paper The Sunday Telegraph is It’s not as if Sarah produced the relaunch off her own bat She was encouraged by McLennan and the Barclays.
The whole relaunch was too dramatic, but it was far from being a cock-up My advice would be to look after your old readers The paper is strong on politics, arts and books. By putting arts and books in a different section you appear to downgrade them. That won’t appeal to younger women.”TREVOR GROVE’Sunday Telegraph’ editor, 1989 to 1992″I think the paper will steady itself when the new editor arrives. I’m told Sarah was working to order in making it more girlie and – the phrase one can’t escape – dumbed down Obviously one makes bits of it appeal to that audience But ‘Stella’ was a dreadful magazine It looked like ‘You’ magazine at its weakest.
I think ‘Seven’ has been done very well, even though it is an imitation of The Sunday Times’s magazine The paper won’t have lost many readers It’s roughly where it has always been. It has a loyal readership and they will come back if it reverts.”KEVIN MYERSFormer columnist, ‘The Sunday Telegraph’”It was a friend to many, but it began to act as though it had a mental illness. Why is a newspaper that used to be conservative and thoughtfully right-wing behaving like a girls’ celebrity magazine? Patience Wheatcroft wrote a good column in The Times. She has a fine mind and is a steady, sensible person who should be editing a newspaper. The Barclays must have been out of their minds thinking they could convert The Sunday Telegraph into a celebrity magazine It’s like turning the QE2 into a landing craft. To try and take on The Mail on Sunday is like Luxembourg declaring war on the US.
The Barclays still have a lot to learn about the newspaper business.”. Whenever Margaret Thatcher appeared on TV in the 1980s, some people thought she was common and frightful but a lot more either thought she was dead posh or didn’t understand the question. Her frightfulness was paramount to people like Mary Warnock. Lady Warnock, academic and committee woman, hated Mrs Thatcher’s voice, use of language and clothes; everything about the Leaderene obviously made her shudder. Lots of Oxbridgey upper-middly media village people felt the same.