Editor leaves GQ after Nazi row

James Brown had been brought in to add spice to GQ

Lads' magazine icon James Brown has resigned as editor of GQ magazine after a row over a feature which is said to have glorified the Nazis.

The 33-year-old fell out with publishers Conde Nast over a list of the 200 most stylish men of the 20th century, which included the Nazis and Field Marshal Rommel alongside Humphrey Bogart and John F Kennedy.

The article praised Rommel for being "stylish in the face of adversity", showing him in a uniform personally chosen for him by Hitler.

It drew protests from Jewish leaders, in the week that Britain's first war crimes trial began.

The Nazis were called style icons in the disputed spread

Brown, famous for launching Loaded magazine - joined GQ in July 1997 - and now supermodels and other scantily-clad women appear where heavyweight analysis and political interviews once did.

Conde Nast managing director Nicholas Coleridge said: "During James' editorship the magazine has grown and he brought energy and humour to the editorial mix.

"He is a talented editor. We like him. Unfortunately, philosophical differences have arisen between James and Conde Nast over some aspects of the magazine's content. We have agreed to disagree."

Brown added: "I have enjoyed my 18 months at GQ. The team and I have built a dynamic, modern men's magazine. It's been a great project and I'm looking forward to my next challenge."

He started his career with music fanzines and the NME, and was recruited to GQ after his Loaded revolutionised the men's magazine market with a mixture of humour, sex and celebrities. Every six months it increased its sales by 50% - but even then it was overtaken by a revitalised FHM magazine, which used a similar formula.

Despite jazzing up GQ's content, circulation still stands at 132,000 copies a month - 16,000 down on when Brown took over in May 1997.