Tim Montgomerie leaves 18 Doughty Street

The Internet TV station 18 Doughty Street announced a few hours ago that the editor of ConservativeHome, Tim Montgomerie, has left the station to work on a "new entity, which will be launched in the next few weeks" that "will focus on a variety of issues of concern to those who feel disenfranchised by the main political parties."

Reading on it looks like the highly successful work he did with the Campaign HQ section on Doughty Street will be spun off as an independent project whilst 18 Doughty Street moves more along commercial lines with a view to being far more non-partisan, although presumably no less opinionated. Iain Dale commenting on the changes said,

"We’re looking to develop 18 Doughty Street into a slightly less partisan and more newsy channel. We want to widen its appeal and commercialise it. The way to do this is to move gradually towards a slightly different model, where we’re still opinionated and forthright, but cover a wider spectrum of views. We will continue to be as far to the right as the BBC is to the left, but we do want to attract more viewers and programme makers and presenters from the centre left. We’re already making programmes with Peter Tatchell, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown and Christian Wolmar but we want to expand our range and schedule. We have also got plans for a nightly news show. Tim’s success with Campaign HQ will continue in a different way and he will be able to play to his strengths in the new environment. We’re all very excited by these new developments."

Sounds like an interesting venture which will hopefully be as successful as some of the stuff that came out of Campaign HQ.