The owner of the Daily Mirror and Sunday People has parted company with high-profile columnists Paul Routledge and Carol McGiffin, the former Loose Women presenter, in the publisher’s ongoing drive to cut costs.
Veteran political journalist Routledge has worked at the Mirror for the best part of 20 years. He spent almost the same tenure at the Times and has also worked on the Observer and Independent on Sunday.
Known for his old Labour political views, he has written biographies of Gordon Brown, Peter Mandelson and Arthur Scargill among others.
Trinity Mirror is also parting company with Charlie Catchpole, the former TV columnist who has written the Sunday People’s Man of the People column for the last six years.
Catchpole, a TV columnist on the Daily Mirror in the 1990s, has taken the decision to retire after a period of ill health.
The Sunday People has also decided against renewing a contract with McGiffin, a panelist on ITV’s Loose Women until 2013 and a columnist on the tabloid for about three years.
McGiffin, 55, was formerly married to DJ Chris Evans. She appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2013.
In December, she completed 11 months of cancer treatment which involved a mastectomy, six rounds of chemotherapy and 15 rounds of radiotherapy on an aggressive grade three tumour that she discovered in 2014.
Alison Phillips, Mirror editor for weekend editions, said: “Charlie has been a much-loved and respected member of the Sunday People staff and he will be very much missed. We wish him all the best for his retirement. We are also sad to say goodbye to Carol McGiffin who has written a sparky and forthright column and who has been a brilliant member of the People team.”
