Nigel Farage’s exit from the Telegraph may be cause for cheer. But there’s a sobering side to this story

The Guardian · Jane Martinson · 2026-11-06 11:00 UTC

The clear-out at the newspaper seems driven less by politics than by a shift towards AI – and journalism will pay the price, says Guardian columnist Jane Martinson

Nigel Farage has been writing columns for the Daily Telegraph since 2016, most of which have promoted the previously Brexit and now Reform UK party he leads, or accused his rivals of going soft on immigration. For this privilege the paper’s cash-strapped bosses paid him around £4,000 a month, adding up to nearly half a million pounds over the past decade.

News broke this week that Farage’s services are no longer required by the Telegraph’s new German owners, Axel Springer, though sources close to Farage say that he resigned. The paper is also reported to be negotiating the exit of Allison Pearson, who has been complimentary of far-right activist Tommy Robinson’s “rough-diamond charisma”, which together have prompted rumours that Springer has called a halt to the paper’s rightwards shift, calling it back to the basics of its Conservative party bible past.

All the attention so far has focused on the departure of these controversial columnists: subscribers have threatened to leave in posts on X, with mutterings about Springer’s pro-EU stance and the existence of its internal LGBTQ+ network.

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