BBC names new editor of 'Today'

Kevin Marsh, currently editor of Radio 4's The World at One, has been chosen to succeed Rod Liddle at the helm of the Today programme.

Mr Liddle decided to leave the flagship morning show after BBC bosses told him he could no longer write an opinionated national newspaper column while editing the programme.

Their intervention came after he used his column in The Guardian to attack marchers on September's "Liberty and Livelihood" protest, saying: "You may ... have forgotten why you voted Labour in 1997. But then you catch a glimpse of the forces supporting the Countryside Alliance: the public schools that laid on coaches; the fusty, belch-filled dining rooms of the London clubs that opened their doors, for the first time, to the protesters; the Prince of Wales and, of course, Camilla; and suddenly, rather gloriously, it might be that you remember once again."

The appointment of Mr Marsh, who edits Broadcasting House, the PM programme and The World This Weekend as well as The World at One, could prove controversial and is likely to result in closer monitoring of the programme by the Labour Party press machine. Alastair Campbell, Downing Street's communications director, is known to be suspicious of Mr Marsh. A letter from Mr Campbell to a newspaper accusing Mr Marsh of anti-Labour bias was published the day before interviews for the Today editorship were last held in 1997.

Mr Marsh's appointment as editor of Today was announced by the corporation yesterday. Others interviewed included Mike MacFarlane, who runs BBC1's weekend bulletins, and the editor of the BBC World Service, Steve Titherington.

Mr Marsh arrived at the BBC as a news trainee in 1978. Born in 1954, he went to Doncaster Grammar School and Christ Church, Oxford.