Lord Lebedev, a British-Russian citizen who took the title Baron Lebedev of Hampton and Siberia, has long been a polarising figure within the Evening Standard’s editorial team, ridiculed for his penchant for posing for photographs with celebrities.
His sometimes eccentric stewardship of the title, which included the appointment of George Osborne as editor, raised more serious concerns as finances deteriorated. The 2019 decision to attract Saudi investment alienated some journalists even further.
As the Evening Standard prepares to go online-only next month, staff told Lord Lebedev: “While we understand the significant financial contribution you have made to the Standard, we hope in return that you will recognise the enormous effort and sacrifice the team have made to keep the paper going in the most difficult of circumstances and with extremely limited resources.”
But in a response on behalf of Lord Lebedev, Evening Standard chairman Paul Kanareck insisted that the company was meeting all its obligations and refused to review the terms of the dismissal.
He wrote: “Unfortunately, the financial plan does not provide any flexibility as we need to ensure that we adequately finance the business after these changes to make it profitable.”
The dispute threatens to bring the Evening Standard’s 200-year print history to a bitter end.
Lord Lebedev was asked for comment.
He recently used his third speech in the House of Lords to promote anti-aging research, an interest he also pursues as a trustee of Hevolution, a Saudi non-profit organization chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
