Career
At the Express, Dacre worked as correspondent in a variety of locations before being sent to Washington in 1976 to cover that year's American presidential election, remaining there until 1979, when he moved to New York as a correspondent. It was at this time that his politics shifted to the right:
I don’t see how anybody can go to America, work there for six years and not be enthralled by the energy of the free market. America taught me the power of the free market, as opposed to the State, to improve the lives of the vast majority of ordinary people.
After his years at the Express bureau, Dacre was head-hunted by David English to be Bureau chief for the Mail in 1980, but was brought back to the UK in 1983 to be news editor. A profile in The Independent in 1992 recounted his behaviour in this period: "It was terrifying stuff. He would rampage through the newsroom with his arms flailing like a windmill, scratching himself manically as he fired himself up." Subsequently he became assistant editor (news and features), assistant editor (features) in 1987, executive editor the following year and associate editor in 1989.
He was appointed editor of the Evening Standard in March 1991 and replaced Sir David English the following year as editor of the Daily Mail, after turning down an offer from Rupert Murdoch to edit The Times. Dacre believed "that he would not accept my desire to edit with freedom". It was his approach to the job of editor - "hard-working, disciplined, confrontational" - which had led Murdoch to attempt to hire him. For the Mail Dacre was considered important enough for English to become editor-in-chief, a job title often seen as a means of sidelining someone considered unsackable. After English's death in March 1998, Dacre himself became the Mail Group's editor-in-chief the following July, in addition to remaining as editor of the Daily Mail.
For many years, Dacre has been the highest paid newspaper editor in Britain. In the year to 28 September 2008, Dacre received £1.62m in salary and cash payments, an increase from the £1.49m of the previous year. In the year to 30 September 2012, Dacre received £1.79 million in total, a 5% rise over the previous year, according to DMGT's annual report.
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