Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre to step down in November

Chief of controversial paper set to leave role after 26 years to become chairman of parent group

Paul Dacre will stand down as editor of the Daily Mail in November, ending an era that saw him become one of the most influential editors in Fleet Street history, not to mention a figure of significant power across British politics.

Mr Dacre, who has been at the helm of the newspaper since 1992, will take a “step back” to serve as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated Newspapers, which owns the Daily Mail.

“After 28 years as an editor, 26 of them at the Mail, I have decided to step back from the responsibilities of day-to-day editing by my 70th birthday in November in order to take on broader challenges within the company as chairman and editor-in-chief of Associated,” he said in a statement.

“Without the Mail, Gary McKinnon, Shaker Aamer and Marine A would probably be in jail and Afghan British Army translators, whose lives are now at risk, would not have the chance to live here.”

Mr Dacre oversaw a rise in circulation of 805,000 copies in his first decade at the Mail at a time when readership of print news was shrinking overall.

His editorship saw the paper win multiple awards and win praise fighting for justice over the murder of Stephen Lawrence and campaigning to tackle the problem of single-use plastics.

Under Mr Dacre, the newspaper also drew attention to the plight of Shaker Aamer, the Briton held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre without charge for more than 13 years and fought for the rights of Afghan interpreters who served with British forces to stay in the UK.

However, the Mail was embroiled in numerous controversies under his leadership, attracting numerous detractors for the paper's uncompromising stance on issues such as gender politics and immigration.

The newspaper came under fire in 2016 for leading on the front page headline “Enemies of the people”, when High Court judges ruled parliamentary approval must be sought to trigger Article 50 and begin Britain’s exit from the EU.

Mr Dacre was criticised personally in 2013 after running an article on Ralph Miliband, the late father of then-Labour leader Ed Miliband, entitled “The Man Who Hated Britain”.

The story, which alleged Marxist academic Ralph Miliband detested the country where he had sought refuge from the Nazis during the Second World War, received condemnation from politicians and publications across the political spectrum.

The Mail was also famously accused of sexism last year for running the front page headline “Never mind Brexit, who won legs-it?” next to a photograph of the prime minister, Theresa May, and Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon.

DMGT chairman Lord Rothermere hailed Mr Dacre as the “greatest Fleet Street editor of his generation” and praised him for holding power to account through campaigns and investigations.

He added the editor had given a “voice to the voiceless" and had set "the political agenda through six prime ministerships”.

Additional reporting by PA