PLANT HERE THE STANDARD Also by Dennis Griffiths

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF THE BRITISH PRESS (Editor) 200 NOT OUT

'The choice of a name then claimed our attention. The object was to make a stand against the inroad of principle; contrary to our Constitution in Church and State; a very appropriate motto was chosen by Dr Giffard (the Editor)

Sig;nifer, statue sig;num, Hie optime manebimus Plant here The Standard. Here we shall best remain.

and on the 21st May, 1827, The Standard was reared, hauled as a rallying point and was speedily followed by the raising of Standards in the Provincial and Colonial Conservative Press. Even Foreign newspapers have adopted the name.' - Charles Baldwin, Publisher Plant Here The Standard

Dennis Griffi ths

~ MACMILLAN © Dennis Griffiths 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

ISBN 978-1-349-12463-3 ISBN 978-1-349-12461-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-12461-9 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 98 97 96 Contents

List ojPlates Vll Acknowledgements ix Standard Names and Spellings xii Foreword &y Viscount Rothermere xiii 1 An Outspoken Publisher 1

2 The Chronicle is Launched 15

3 A Phalanx of First-Class Wits 28

4 Plant Here The Standard 42

5 Bright, Broken Maginn 57

6 Enter Edward Baldwin 72

7 A Change of Ownership 91

8 Captain Hamber Departs 111

9 Mudford Takes Over 124

10 The New Journalism 141

11 The Greatest Hustler 153

12 Dalziel in Charge 177

13 The Man from Manchester 195

14 Em pire Crusader 210

15 The General Strike 222

16 Celebrating 100 Years 236

17 The Abdication Crisis 251

v Vl Contents 18 Munich and Appeasement 267

19 On the Brink 280

20 The Standard at War 289

21 Peace in Shoe Lane 311

22 Death of Beaverbrook 324

23 Decline and Fall 338

24 Harmsworth Victorious 360 References 377 Appendix 1 Chronology 391 Appendix 2 Editors 393 Appendix 3 Circulation 395 Appendix 4 Senior Staff, January 1995 397 Bibliography 399 Index 403 List of Plates

1 An Account of the Publick Transactions in Christendom published by Richard Baldwin 2 A Postscript to the Post-Man published by Anne Baldwin 3 St. James's Chronicle published by Henry Baldwin 4 No. 38, New Bridge Street: Offices of St. James 's Chronicle and The Standard 5 First edition of The Standard 6 Dr. Stanley Lees Giffard, first editor of The Standard 7 Duel between Duke of Wellington and Lord Winchilsea 8 Dr William Maginn 9 Alaric Watts 10 Edward Baldwin, proprietor The Standard and Morning Herald 11 Mrs Harris's Express (Punch cartoons) 12 JamesJohnstone, proprietor The Standard-Vanity Fair cartoon 13 Evening Standard, first edition 14 Charles Williams, first editor of the Evening Standard and one of the great war correspondents 15 The Fight for The Standard 16 John Eldon Gorst, briefly editor of The Standard, architect of Conservative victory and later Solicitor-General 17 Thomas Escott, Standard leader writer and confidant of Lord Randolph Churchill and Joseph Chamberlain 18 William Mudford, editor/manager The Standard 19 Advertisement hall of the new Standard building, St. Bride Street 20 Standard bill 21 C. Arthur Pearson, proprietor The Standard 22 H. A. Gwynne, editor The Standard

vii viii List ojPlates 23 The Standard auction announcement in the Newspaper World 24 Evening Standard and the first aeroplane newspaper service 25 Sir Edward Hulton and Lord Beaverbrook (both proprietors of the Evening Standard) 26 Evening Standard editorial staff during General Strike 1926 27 Evening Standard composing room, showing a battery of Linotypes, during the 1930s 28 Abdication Crisis 1936 29 and Michael Foot, both editors of the Evening Standard 30 German propaganda newspaper dropped over London 31 Evening Standard is bombed 1940 32 Group Captain Max Aitken with his father, Lord Beaverbrook, 1945 33 Moon Landing 1969

34 Charles WintoUl~ editor Evening Standard 1959-76 and 1978-80 35 Back bench, Shoe Lane. 36 Jocelyn Stevens, in 1978, managing director of Express Newspapers 37 Victor Matthews, chairman of Express Newspapers, at the launch of the Daily Star, February 1978. 38 Simon Jenkins, editor of the Evening Standard, during the merger crisis 39 Louis Kirby (right), editor, at the Evening Standard Drama Awards 1985 with Princess Alexandra and Lord Matthews. 40 John Leese, editor, cuts the cake in December 1988 as the Evening Standard leaves Fleet Street for Kensington 41 Viscount Rothermere in the Evening Standard editorial room, Northcliffe House, Kensington 42 (editor Evening Standard), Viscount Rothermere (Chairman, and General Trust), Sir (Chairman, Associated Newspapers) and (editor Daily Mail) Acknowledgemen ts

Many people have kindly assisted me in my research, but special mention is due to Mr , former Chairman and editor of the Evening Standard, and to Dr Joseph O. Baylen, Regents' Pro• fessor of History Emeritus, Georgia State University. I must thank also most warmly Viscount Rothermere, Chairman, Daily Mail & General Trust, for his co-operation and for graciously writing the foreword. I owe a great debt also to Dr Aled Jones, of the History Department, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; to the late Professor John Dodge, first Director of the Graduate Centre for Journalism, City University; to the present Director, Professor Hugh Stephenson; and to his colleagues Henry Clother, RobertJones and Stuart Patrick. Special mention must also be accorded to the late Stephen Koss, Professor of History, Columbia University, who died in October 1986 at the age of 44. He not only read the opening chapters but was also instru• mental in directing me to the Disraeli, Peel and Salisbury Papers, and I have also drawn upon his magnificent two-volume study, The Rise and Fall oj the Political Press in Britain, which covers the periods 1850-1900 and 1900-85. The Earl of Halsbury, Chancellor of Brunei University, was most gracious in providing access to his family's history, with particular reference to Dr Stanley Lees Giffard, first editor of The Standard; and Hardinge Giffard, a future Lord Chancellor of England. The present Earl provides a direct link with the first days of The Standard, and in conversation was able to recall boyhood talks with his grandfather, Hardinge Giffard, who had worked with his father, Stanley Lees Giffard, as assistant editor before achieving fame at the Bar. For any student of the early days of newspapers, Politics and the Press c.1750-1850 by the late Arthur Aspinall, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading, is indispensable. Much help and advice was also rendered by Dr Lucy Brown, formerly Senior Lecturer in History, London School of Economics, who read the early script; her seminal work, Victorian News and Newspapers, is a major source of reference. I would also thank Dr David Jeremy and his colleagues of the Business History Unit, London School of Economics, for their advice. Among the many other academics, archivists and librarians who have rendered assistance, special thanks are accorded to Professor Ray Boston and David Linton, editors of The NewspajJer Press in Britain: an annotated bibliography, for sharing their wide knowledge of the British press; Dr B. S. Benedikz, sub-librarian (special collections) at the University of Birmingham; Judith Dunn, Information and Services Librarian, News International Newspapers Ltd.; the late Alec Harrison,

ix x Acknowledgements honorary librarian, London Press Club; Robert Heron, owner of one of the largest collections of newspapers in the United Kingdom; Gor• don Phillips, formerly archivist of and Today; Anne Piggott, formerly archivist of The Times; Stephen Stacey, of the Bodleian Library; Justine Taylor, archivist, ; and C. Woolgar, archivist, University of Southampton. For early research, I am indebted to R. Rosenberg for his work on the Baldwins; to Ian Maxwell, librarian, , for his advice on London publishers; to Richard and Marjorie Bond, the University of North Carolina, for their investigations into the Minute Book of the St. James's Chronicle; and to Robert Wilkinson-Latham for incisive information on Victorian war correspondents and the campaigns they reported. On other matters, the archivists of Lloyds Bank; the Royal Literary Fund; Oriel College, Oxford, and Staffordshire County Council were of great assistance, but I am especially grateful to Miss Robin Myers, honorary archivist of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers. Much of the research was done at the Public Record Office, the House of Lords Library, the British Library, the Guildhall Library and the Barbican, Uxbridge and Buckinghamshire libraries. Two libraries which were especially important were St. Bride Printing Library (where James Mosley, Nigel Roche, Dr Louise Craven and Gwyneth Haslam merit warm thanks); and the British Newspaper Library, Colindale, where the Head, Geoffrey Smith, and the former Heads, Geoffrey Hamilton and Eve Johansson, and their colleagues, Graham Cranfield and John Westmancoat, facilitated my extensive use of The Standard files. I am greatly indebted also to Andrew Phillips, Director, Humanities and Social Sciences, The British Library, for his help and for permission to quote from letters held by the Library. In the newspaper world, I must thank. Ivor Cole, legal director, Associated Newspapers; Rt. Hon. Michael Foot, former editor Evening Standard; and Angus McGill, columnist, Evening Standard; for reading various chapters and offering wise advice. I am indebted also to Lord Hugh Cudlipp, former editorial director of the and Sun• day Mirror, Paul Dacre, editor the Daily Mail and former editor of the Evening Standard; Robert Edwards, former editor of the (twice), The People, the Sunday Mirror and leader writer of the Evening Standard; , editor of , former special correspondent for the Evening Standard; Simon Jenkins, former editor of The Times and Evening Standard; Sir John Junor, former editor of the Sunday Express and deputy editor of the Evening Standard; Louis Kirby, former editor of the Evening News and Evening Standard; George Newkey-Burden, honorary archivist of The Daily Telegraph; Craig Orr, managing editor Evening Standard; Tom Pocock, former war cor• respondent of the Evening Standard; Stewart Steven, former editor of Acknowledgements xi and editor of the Evening Standard; and Jocelyn Stevens, the chairman of English Heritage, formerly managing direc• tor of the Evening Standard. Other newspaper personalities to whom lowe thanks include John Beadell, Chief Executive, Audit Bureau of Circulations; Anne Chisholm and Michael Davie, authors of Beaverbrook: a life; David Elliot; Vyvyan Harmsworth, Director, Corporate Mfairs, Associated News• papers; Admiral Sir Ian and Lady Hogg; Ed Ram, Circulation director, Evening Standard; Leo Simmonds, former Personnel Director, Express Newspapers; Anne Sebba, author of Battling for News: The Rise of the Woman Reporter, and George Malcolm Thomson, distinguished leader writer and, at 94, the oldest former member of the Evening Standard editorial staff. For the supply of illustrations, I am indebted to the Associated Newspapers' picture library; the former Evening Standard picture library, with special thanks to Ron Brierley and the late John King: the Daily Express picture library (Keith Beard); the Hulton-Deutsch picture library, the Beaverbrook Foundation, the Board of Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Punch and John Frost. At Macmillan, I would like to thank Tim Farmiloe, editorial director, who com• missioned the book, Belinda Holdsworth, Keith Povey and Stephen Rutt, business publishing director, for their encouragement and advice. Finally, and above all, I must thank my wife, Elizabeth, and my family for their understanding during the writing of this book.

DENNIS GRIFFITHS

The author and publishers wish to thank the following for permission to use copyright material: Guardian Newspapers Ltd for extracts by Michael Burn in the 26 August 1985 issue of - Copyright © 1985 The Guardian; David Higham Associates on behalf of the author for material from A. J. P. Taylor, Beaverbrook, Hamish Hamilton, 1972; Ewan MacNaughton Associates for 'Fleet Street's Standards', 29 April 1975, Daily Telegraph - Copyright © 1977 The Telegraph pic; Times Newspapers Ltd for an extract from Simon Winchester, 'Invaders' flag flies in Port Stanley', 3 April 1982, The Times - Copy• right © 1982 Times Newspapers Ltd; HarperCollins Publishers Limited for material from N. Nicolson (ed.) Harold Nicolson Diaries 1930-39. Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright-holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrangement at the first opportunity. Standard Names and Spellings

Throughout its history, the Evening Standard has had a variety of name changes: The Standard, Evening Standard, New Standard, The London Standard, The London Evening Standard and, now, Evening Standard. Please note, though, that after 1917, where the word Standard has been used it refers to the Evening Standard or any of its derivatives.

Please note that where text has been quoted the original spellings and punctuation have been retained.

xii Foreword

A few years ago the Evening Standard ran an advertising campaign with the slogan 'A great newspaper for a great city'. It was a proud, not to say, a bold claim but, unlike some statements in the advertising world, it was and is rooted in a fundamental truth. London is a great city; one of the world's greatest. The Evening Stan• dard is part of that greatness echoing London themes, charting the foi• bles and follies of its residents, complaining with its commuters, sampling its restaurants, enjoying its theatre. Its ability to reflect the hopes and aspirations of Londoners, to help and to amuse them in their daily lives, to find them work and to help them choose their entertain• ment, and to add significantly to that overall mix which makes London special, is what makes the Evening Standard a great newspaper. No other city in the world can boast of an evening newspaper with a circulation close to the 500,000 per night regularly sold by the Evening Standard. Nor for that matter can several national newspapers. That circulation is more than most quality papers achieve with the whole country to aim at, and even those downmarket tabloids with huge circulations nationally cannot outsell the Evening Standard on its home ground, within the metropolitan area. Its readers care for it just as it cares for them. It is unique, too, because, at a time when many local evening papers have allowed their editorial stock to be undermined by the complacency which comes with monopoly, or have lapsed into parochialism, and have had their advertising base attacked by free sheets and give-aways, the Evening Standard has fought against any decline in its standards. As a result of its editorial flair it is the paper which sets the agenda for the next day's newspapers, radio and television. Courted by politicians, feared by the bureaucrats, it is once again at the heart of London life, and through London has its finger on the pulse of the nation. Dennis Griffiths has seen in this paper a story to tell, and a history worth repeating. In fact, as he skilfully shows, there are almost as many stories about the Standard as there are stories in it. And that is as it should be. As one of the oldest papers in Fleet Street, it is part of publishing folklore and this history will ensure that the principles of journalistic and commercial excellence, on which the Evening Standard is built, will be available for future generations. They could do worse than copy them.

VISCOUNT ROTHERMERE

Xlll