When Scottish journalist Robert Stephen Rintoul launched The Spectator on 6 July 1828, he set out to make a newspaper that could influence public debate. Its early liberal-radical politics were far removed from the conservatism associated with the weekly today. Over nearly two centuries, the magazine has changed owners, editors and political emphases, while its pages have carried arguments about public affairs alongside criticism of books, art and culture.
Rintoul's reforming newspaper
Before founding The Spectator, Rintoul had edited the Dundee Advertiser and the London-based Atlas. He revived the title of an earlier publication and began with an unusually strong claim to editorial control, insisting on what he called “absolute power” over content. In its first decades, the magazine supported reform and the radical wing of the Whigs. Its political criticism sat alongside a reputation for independence in both political and cultural commentary.
That reforming outlook soon found a focus in Parliament. Two years after the first issue, The Spectator argued for wide-ranging parliamentary reform and published supplements on vested interests in the Commons and Lords. It coined the phrase “The Bill, the whole Bill and nothing but the Bill” and supported the reform campaign that helped bring about the Great Reform Act of 1832. The magazine’s early principles included individual and press freedom, religious tolerance and freedom of trade.
Its positions did not always fit neatly within party lines. The magazine opposed the First Opium War, criticising both the unequal contest and the commercial interests behind it. After years of robust criticism of Conservative leader Robert Peel, it backed him when he split the Tory party by repealing the Corn Laws. In 1858, shortly before his death, Rintoul sold the title. Ownership changes followed, and circulation fell.
In 1861 journalist Meredith Townsend bought the publication. He and Richard Holt Hutton restored an independent voice and took positions that could be unpopular with readers: they supported the Union during the American Civil War, damaging circulation, and attacked Benjamin Disraeli over the treatment of Bulgarian civilians under Ottoman rule. In 1886, the magazine broke with William Gladstone over Irish Home Rule, aligning itself with the Liberal Unionists rather than the Liberal Party line.
Long-serving editors and changing causes
John St Loe Strachey became sole editor and proprietor in 1897. Associated with the magazine for about 40 years, he oversaw a period of growth: circulation doubled within two years and later peaked at 23,000. His projects extended beyond the editorial page. They included a campaign to demonstrate that new soldiers could be trained to a high standard in six months, a Cheap Cottage Exhibition that helped lay the foundations for Letchworth Garden City, and a defence of free trade against Joseph Chamberlain’s tariff-reform programme.
After the First World War, circulation began to fall. Strachey sold his controlling interest to Evelyn Wrench in 1925. Wrench became editor the following year and was succeeded in 1932 by Wilson Harris. Harris wrote forcefully about the rise of fascism in Germany, though he initially supported Neville Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement. After the Kristallnacht pogrom, he abandoned that support. During the Second World War, the magazine reduced its size and paper quality, but its readership doubled, exceeding 50,000. Harris later served as an MP for Cambridge University, bringing the magazine’s history into direct contact with the House of Commons.
Ian Gilmour bought The Spectator in 1954 and restored the practice of combining ownership with editorship. The magazine opposed the Suez intervention and supported proposals from the Wolfenden Committee to decriminalise homosexuality, condemning the existing laws. Its editors continued to change: among them were Iain Macleod, Nigel Lawson and George Gale. In January 1964, Macleod’s account of the Conservative Party’s leadership manoeuvring, presented as a review of Randolph Churchill’s book, caused a political sensation and sold a record number of copies for that week.
After a period of falling circulation, Alexander Chancellor took over in 1975. He returned the magazine to a traditional weekly format and brought in writers including Auberon Waugh, Jeffrey Bernard and Taki Theodoracopulos. Charles Moore, editor from 1984 to 1990, gave the magazine a more political character and generally supported Margaret Thatcher, while retaining room to criticise her on particular issues. Ownership changed several times during these decades. Financial difficulty gave way to new investment and subscription drives, and circulation reached 30,000 in 1986.
From Johnson's editorship to a digital magazine
Boris Johnson edited The Spectator from 1999 to 2005. Circulation reached a reported 70,000 a year during his tenure. His editorship ended when he left to become the Conservative Party’s shadow minister for higher education. The position has often been a route into high political office: earlier editors included future cabinet members Ian Gilmour, Iain Macleod and Nigel Lawson.
Johnson’s years at the magazine also included disputes and public criticism. In 2004, an editorial about the killing of hostage Kenneth Bigley criticised Liverpool’s response; Johnson took responsibility for it and was ordered by Michael Howard to visit the city. His editorship also became associated with personal and political scandals. Those episodes are part of the record, but they do not establish that every claim about the magazine’s influence or standards is warranted.
Matthew d’Ancona succeeded Johnson in 2006. Among his changes was the launch of the Coffee House blog in May 2007. The magazine moved its offices to Old Queen Street in Westminster that year and launched an Australian edition in 2008. Fraser Nelson became editor in 2009. During his tenure, the magazine launched an archive in 2013 containing 1.5 million pages of articles; digital and print editions for readers in the United States followed.
The magazine’s history also includes legal consequences. In 2011, an article by Rod Liddle about the trial of two men later convicted of Stephen Lawrence’s murder led to a prosecution for breaching reporting restrictions. In 2012, the publisher pleaded guilty and was fined. The episode is a reminder that editorial controversy can have consequences beyond public debate.
On 10 September 2024, hedge fund manager Paul Marshall bought The Spectator for £100 million. Michael Gove was appointed editor later that month, replacing Fraser Nelson, who became associate editor. The publication remains a print-and-digital weekly focused on politics and culture. Its history makes clear that its political character has not been fixed: the liberal-radical outlook of Rintoul’s early decades, later Liberal Unionism and the modern conservative identity belong to distinct periods.
Why The Spectator deserves a place in British Legacy
The Spectator deserves a place in British Legacy because its history records specific arguments that mattered in British public life. Its early campaign for parliamentary reform included supplements exposing vested interests in the Commons and Lords and support for the movement that helped bring about the Great Reform Act of 1832. In later decades, the magazine opposed the Suez intervention and backed proposals to decriminalise homosexuality. These positions complicate any simple account of a publication defined only by its present-day conservative identity.
The succession of editors also makes the magazine a revealing case study in the relationship between journalism and political power. Strachey’s long tenure joined editorial work to practical campaigns, while Macleod used the pages to set out an account of Conservative leadership manoeuvring that became a political sensation. Several editors, including Gilmour, Macleod and Lawson, went on to become cabinet members; Johnson later entered high political office. Its cultural pages, contributors and extensive archive provide another strand of value, preserving arguments and criticism across generations. That record includes controversy, changing positions and legal consequences as well as campaigns and influence. Remembering The Spectator in British Legacy means recognising its sustained place in the country’s media history without treating its claims to importance as a substitute for examining what it actually published.
Sources
The Spectator — supplied revision
Adapted in part from The Spectator by Wikipedia contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text has been edited and combined with the existing article; this adapted text is shared under the same licence. Contributor history.