Geordie Greig will take over as the new Editor of the Daily Mail 

Geordie Greig will be the new Editor of the Daily Mail, it was announced last night.

Currently the Editor of The Mail on Sunday, Mr Greig will take over when Paul Dacre steps aside from editing the daily newspaper later this year.

Lord Rothermere, the proprietor of both titles, described Mr Greig as an ‘outstanding Editor’.

He also announced the Mail’s ‘exceptional’ Deputy Editor Ted Verity will be the next Editor of The Mail on Sunday.

Mr Dacre, who has edited the daily newspaper for 26 years, said on Wednesday he would step back from day-to-day editing by his 70th birthday in November.

Mr Dacre will take on broader challenges as Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Associated Newspapers, publisher of the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and Metro newspapers and the MailOnline and Metro.co.uk websites.

Last night Lord Rothermere, the Chairman of parent company DMGT, said: ‘Geordie has been an outstanding Editor of The Mail on Sunday, and I am delighted that he will continue the high-quality journalism that Paul has made a hallmark of the Daily Mail for more than 25 years.’

He added: ‘I am also delighted that Ted Verity, who has been an exceptional Deputy Editor at the Daily Mail, is to become Editor of The Mail on Sunday.’

In his new role, Mr Greig will also have oversight of The Mail on Sunday, it was announced.

Mr Dacre, who will continue to advise Lord Rothermere, has been hailed by the proprietor for his ‘brilliant stewardship’ of the Mail. In his statement on Wednesday, Lord Rothermere said Mr Dacre was ‘quite simply the greatest Fleet Street Editor of his generation’ and praised him for holding power to account through many campaigns and investigations.

Mr Dacre – a Fleet Street Editor for 28 years, 26 of them at the Mail and prior to that at the Evening Standard – said Lord Rothermere was a joy to work for because he had given him ‘the freedom to edit without interference and the backing to assemble Fleet Street’s greatest team of journalists’.