It was founded and edited for the first three and half years of its existence by Matt Kelly, who formerly worked at the Daily Mirror[3] and Local World.
The newspaper’s owners stated that The New European was to have an initial lifespan of just four issues, beyond which publication would be reviewed on a week-by-week basis. By the eve of the third edition the paper revealed it had broken even and sold around 40,000 copies.[4] It continued to publish beyond its fourth issue, and claimed in July 2019 that it continued to be profitable.[5] The circulation was reported in November 2016 to be “about 25,000”[6] and, in February 2017, to be 20,000.[7]
In March 2017 Alastair Campbell became the newspaper’s editor-at-large months after it won the serial rights to the fifth volume of his diaries about the Blair government,[8][9] which it serialised over three weeks.
In May 2017 it said it only had one permanent staff member and around 40 contributors.[10] The paper announced it was changing from Berliner to Compact format in July 2017.[11]
In May 2018 the newspaper devoted a whole issue to feminism, rebranding as The New Feminist, edited by Caroline Criado-Perez with contributions from Helen Lewis, Samira Ahmed, and Konnie Huq. [12] On 29 March 2019, the date the UK was expected to leave the European Union under Theresa May, the newspaper devoted a whole edition to the writings of Will Self. The 25,000-word essay was illustrated by Martin Rowson.[13]
In September 2019, Kelly announced he was promoting Jasper Copping, previously the paper’s deputy editor, to the role of editor, while taking the role of publisher himself.[14]
Regular contributors include Howard Jacobson, Bonnie Greer, Miranda Sawyer, Jonathan Freedland, Victor Lewis-Smith, Alastair Campbell and Mitch Benn.[15]
