Former 'Mirror' editor wins £1m book deal

Piers Morgan, the sacked Daily Mirror editor and one of the foremost proponents of chequebook journalism, is to be paid more than £1m to reveal his professional secrets.

Piers Morgan, the sacked Daily Mirror editor and one of the foremost proponents of chequebook journalism, is to be paid more than £1m to reveal his professional secrets.

Mr Morgan, who was dismissed in May after publishing hoax pictures of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners, has a deal with Ebury Press, a division of Random House, to publish his memoirs, slated for spring. The book will be based on diaries that Mr Morgan kept of his dealings with figures such as Rupert Murdoch, Tony Blair and Diana, Princess of Wales while he was editor of the News of the World between 1994 and 1995, and the Mirror.

Mr Morgan has wreaked merciless revenge on enemies. After the Private Eye editor Ian Hislop published details of his private life, Mr Morgan, who began his national newspaper career on The Sun's Bizarre gossip column, conducted a lurid campaign against the satirist. Teams of Mirror journalists dug deep but failed to find skeletons in his cupboard.

Mr Morgan will also give his account of the Mirror City Slicker share-tip scandal, when he was accused of insider trading.