Mike Danson takes full ownership of New Statesman

Mike Danson has taken full control of the New Statesman, the leftwing political weekly, buying out the Labour MP Geoffrey Robinson's 50% stake in the title.

Danson, who made a multimillion-pound fortune when he sold his information business Datamonitor, has been the magazine's co-owner since April 2008, when Robinson sold him an initial 50% stake for an undisclosed sum.

Danson has now exercised a clause giving him the right to purchase the remainder of the publication, with Robinson's agreement. It is not known how much Danson paid.

Robinson will stay on as co-chairman alongside Danson. But the deal ends Robinson's financial involvement with the title, which he bought in 1996, the year before New Labour came to power.

Staff were briefed about the change of ownership at lunchtime today.

Robinson said: "It was always my intention to pass full control of the business to Mike. I am very secure with the magazine being in his hands, both financially and editorially."

Danson added: "My arrangement with Geoffrey has been working very well, and we both agreed that the time was right for me to take full control of the New Statesman as we seek to continue to develop the title. Geoffrey helped save the magazine and he will remain fully involved as co-chairman."

The sale could help to end a period of uncertainty at the title, which has lost several senior editorial staff, including political editor Martin Bright, in recent months.

Although Robinson and Danson insist the joint ownership arrangement worked well, some observers claim it made it difficult to manage the title effectively.

Danson played a key role in hiring the New Statesman's editor, Jason Cowley, the former editor of literary periodical Granta and an ex-Observer journalist, who joined at the beginning of last autumn.

Cowley has recruited new writers and plans to extend the scope of the magazine.

The New Statesman received huge amounts of publicity last month after Tony Blair's former head of communications, Alastair Campbell, guest edited the title. Suzanne Moore, who wrote an occasional column, subsequently resigned in protest, although the magazine pointed out she was not on its staff and had been listed as a contributing editor, an unpaid position.

The title has typically sold around 25,000 copies in recent years, and has struggled to break through the 30,000 circulation barrier.

Sales have fallen from a peak of just over 29,000 in the first six months of 2007. The magazine sold 23,128 copies in the second six months of last year, according to the latest figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

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