Boffey: wants new challenge
The Sunday Telegraph newsdesk is to lose its top two executives. Assistant editor (news) Chris Boffey and his deputy Shan Lancaster are both leaving the paper for pastures new.
Boffey is quitting to become a special adviser to Education Secretary Estelle Morris and Lancaster has decided that she wants to return to freelance writing.
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Both have told editor Dominic Lawson that they will help him to find a new newsdesk team but Boffey hopes to start his new job before the party conferences in September.
After two and a half years in charge of the newsdesk, Boffey simply wants a new challenge. "I was advised that Estelle Morris was looking for someone so I contacted her about four or five weeks ago. I hope I will be working closely with her on everything. I’ve been married to a teacher for 30 years, who is now head of a beacon school, part of the Government’s drive to raise standards, so I have assimilated a great deal about the education system.
"Both of my sons started off in the state system and went on to public schools because I didn’t think the secondary schools in our area were good enough at the time. That was the first thing I told Estelle Morris.
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"I won’t be leaving Dominic in the lurch. He is the best editor I have worked for," said Boffey who was news editor of the Sunday Mirror and a reporter on the News of the World before joining The Sunday Telegraph. He also worked on the Daily Star and Today.
His departure was the catalyst for Lancaster’s decision to quit. "I just thought it would be be a nice opportunity to go freelance. I didn’t really want to do another desk job but Chris is a very persuasive person and said it would be fun. And it was."
Equally experienced, Lancaster worked for The Sun for 12 years as a reporter and on the desk, for the Daily Star as royal reporter and as news editor of both the Sunday and Daily Expresses. She also did a stint at the Sunday Mirror as associate editor (features).
"I’m certainly not severing my links with The Sunday Telegraph and hope to write for the paper and the magazine."
By Philippa Kennedy
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