LONDON (Reuters) - The editor of the Daily Mail tabloid Paul Dacre will stand down by his 70th birthday in November to become chairman and editor-in-chief of the title's publisher, Associated Newspapers, Daily Mail and General Trust said on Wednesday.
Dacre said he had decided to step back from editing the right-leaning newspaper after 26 years to take on broader challenges within the company.
DMGT's chairman Jonathan Harmsworth said Dacre had provided "brilliant stewardship" of the Daily Mail and other titles within the group over three decades.
"Paul is, quite simply, the greatest Fleet Street editor of his generation not only for his huge circulation successes on both the Mail and Standard but also for the sheer power of his many campaigns, investigations and crusades that have held power to account, given a voice to the voiceless and often set the political agenda through six prime ministerships," he said.
(Reporting by Paul Sandle, editing by Larry King)