The Daily Mail's new Saturday politics columnist is Iain Martin

Tim Montgomerie

I'm delighted to report that Iain Martin has been appointed as the new Saturday political columnist for the Daily Mail. In recent times all of the daily newspapers have devoted more of their punditry firepower to Saturdays; Matthew Parris on The Times, Charles Moore on The Telegraph, Polly Toynbee on The Guardian. Iain's a very good appointment by Paul Dacre, Editor, and Jon Steafel, Deputy Editor, who have waited patiently for the right big-hitter since losing Peter Oborne to The Telegraph. Iain has a massive contacts book from across the political spectrum and will provide exactly the kind of centre right but independent-minded thinking that the Eurosceptic, small government, pro-family and foreign policy 'realist' newspaper needs. Since leaving The Telegraph two years ago Iain Martin has been Deputy Editor at the Wall Street Journal Europe. He ran a popular and often amusing blog there, ensuring his political insights weren't lost to those of us who didn't regularly read that newspaper.

I'm not sure what Downing Street will think. The Mail is thought to be a "problem" in Number 10. The newspaper has not enjoyed the Coalition's compromises on crime, Europe and tax. In a leader today it urges George Osborne to follow Margaret Thatcher and cut taxes in next week's Budget. The arrival of Iain, who is of the Right rather than a Conservative Party animal, will reinforce the Tory leadership's view that the newspaper will remain difficult to tame. As well as the Saturday column Iain will write other occasional pieces but, sadly, won't be blogging. You can, however, follow him on Twitter here (where, for the moment, his avatar is still one of those WSJ portrait sketches).