Stewart Steven

Who was Stewart Steven?

Stewart Steven was a British newspaper editor who grew circulation but whose career was marked by three major errors. He was personally generous to friends and family.

Born in Hamburg, Steven grew up in England, becoming a journalist with the Central Press, then the Western Daily Press, and from 1963 with the Daily Express. At the Express, he was a political reporter, diplomatic correspondent and finally foreign editor, before becoming an assistant editor of the Daily Mail in 1972, and associate editor in 1974.

In 1972 the Daily Express reported a "world exclusive" that Martin Borman, Hitler's deputy, was living in South America. After six days, the paper realized it was a hoax. Steven left for the Daily Mail. In 1977, he took responsibility for the publication of a false story claiming that British Leyland had a fund to pay bribes.

In 1982, he became editor of the Mail on Sunday, serving until 1992, when he became editor of the Evening Standard. In 1995, he printed a story critical of Tony Blair under the name of Bryan Gould, a former member of the Labour Party's shadow cabinet; in fact, Conservative Party Home Secretary Michael Howard's teenaged son had written the article.