Standard Owner Buys The Independent

Alexander Lebedev, former KGB agent and proprietor of the Evening Standard, has bought the Independent and Independent on Sunday for the nominal price of £1. The purchase has been worked on for months, and has attracted a healthy crop of bizarre rumours, including one (swiftly abandoned) that Rod Liddle would be snapped up as editor. The two newspapers already share offices in Associated Newspapers' Kensington home, and journos on both titles will fear for their jobs as the inevitable round of "synergising" begins.