Editing The Spectator (section)

===Ian Gilmour===
In 1954, Wrench and his co-owner Angus Watson sold ''The Spectator'' to the barrister [[Ian Gilmour]], who restored the ''Spectator'' tradition of simultaneously acting as editor. Having a libertarian and pro-European outlook, he "enlivened the paper and injected a new element of irreverence, fun and controversy".<ref name="Blake" /> He was critical of both [[Anthony Eden]]'s and [[Harold Macmillan]]'s governments, and while supporting the Conservatives was also friendly to [[Hugh Gaitskell]] and [[Gaitskellism]].<ref name="royjenkins-auto">{{Cite book |last=Jenkins, Roy |title=A Life at the Centre |publisher=Politico's |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-84275-177-0 |pages=117–118, 130}}</ref> Gilmour lent ''The Spectator''{{'}}s voice to the campaign to end [[capital punishment in Britain]], writing an incensed leader attacking the hanging of [[Ruth Ellis]] in 1955, in which he claimed "Hanging has become the national sport", and that the home secretary [[Gwilym Lloyd George]], for not reprieving the sentence, "has now been responsible for the hanging of two women over the past eight months".<ref name="Courtauld 1999" />

''The Spectator'' opposed Britain's involvement in the [[Suez crisis]] in 1956, strongly criticising the government's handling of the debacle. The paper went on to oppose Macmillan's government's re-election in the [[1959 United Kingdom general election]], complaining: "The continued Conservative pretence that Suez was a good, a noble, a wise venture has been too much to stomach&nbsp;... the Government is taking its stand on a solid principle: 'Never admit a mistake.'"<ref name="Courtauld 1999" /> The paper also says that it was influential in campaigning for the [[decriminalisation of homosexuality]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Butterfield |first=David |date=27 July 2017 |title=Persistent buggers: how The Spectator fought to decriminalise homosexuality |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/persistent-buggers-how-the-spectator-fought-to-decriminalise-homosexuality |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240616155653/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/persistent-buggers-how-the-spectator-fought-to-decriminalise-homosexuality/ |archive-date=2024-06-16 |website=www.spectator.co.uk}}</ref> It gave vocal support to the proposals of the [[Wolfenden Committee]] in 1957, condemning the "utterly irrational and illogical" old laws on homosexuality: "Not only is the law unjust in conception, it is almost inevitably unjust in practice."<ref name="Courtauld 1999" />

In March 1957, Jenny Nicholson, a frequent contributor, wrote a piece on the [[Italian Socialist Party]] congress in [[Venice]], which mentioned three [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politicians ([[Aneurin Bevan]], [[Richard Crossman]], and [[Morgan Phillips]]) "who puzzled the Italians by filling themselves like tanks with whisky and coffee".<ref>''The Spectator'', 1 March 1957</ref> All three sued for libel, the case went to trial, and ''The Spectator'' was forced to make a large payment in damages and costs, a sum well over the equivalent of £150,000 today.<ref name="Courtauld">{{Cite news |last=Courtauld |first=Simon |title=A Notorious Case of Perjury |work=The Spectator (175th Anniversary Issue)}}</ref> It has since emerged that "all three plaintiffs, to a greater or lesser degree, perjured themselves in court".<ref name="Courtauld" />

Gilmour gave up the editorship in 1959, in part to abet his chance of selection as a Conservative MP. He appointed his deputy [[Brian Inglis]], who introduced to the magazine a fresh spirit of political satire. In 1959—much to the embarrassment of Gilmour (who remained the owner)—''The Spectator'' advised either voting for the Liberal Party or tactically abstaining. Despite a marked increase in sales, Gilmour felt that ''The Spectator'' was losing its political edge, so replaced him in 1962 with [[Iain Hamilton (journalist)|Iain Hamilton]]. Hamilton successfully balanced a keener focus on current affairs with some more raucous contributions as the young team behind ''[[Private Eye]]'' were commissioned to write a mock eight-page ''Child's Guide to Modern Culture''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Child's Guide to Modern Culture » 23 Nov 1962 » The Spectator Archive |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/23rd-november-1962/33/a-childs-guide-to-modern-culture |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024034024/http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/23rd-november-1962/33/a-childs-guide-to-modern-culture |archive-date=24 October 2020 |access-date=23 May 2020 |website=The Spectator Archive}}</ref> Much to the shock of Hamilton and the ''Spectator'' staff, Gilmour replaced Hamilton in 1963 with [[Iain Macleod]], the Conservative MP who had resigned from the cabinet on the controversial appointment of Sir [[Alec Douglas-Home]] to succeed [[Harold Macmillan]] as prime minister. A widely circulated letter, signed by ''Spectator'' journalists and board members, berated Gilmour for mistreating an admired editor and appointing an active politician who could jeopardise the independence of the magazine: "We believe strongly that ''The Spectator'', with its long and honourable history of independent opinion, should not be tossed about at the whim of the proprietor or lose its independence by identification with a narrow political faction."<ref>Letter first printed in ''The Times'' of 2 November 1963.</ref>