Andrew Neil to lead the Spectator

Andrew Neil will become Boris Johnson's boss at the Spectator

The owners of the Spectator magazine - the Barclay Brothers - have put the magazine under the control of Andrew Neil, the BBC has learned.

Mr Neil, a former Sunday Times editor, has become chief executive of the magazine with immediate effect.

Boris Johnson is, however, to remain as editor of the Spectator, and sources say the decision has nothing to do with the Tory MP's recent controversies.

The MP for Henley-on-Thames was sacked from the Shadow Cabinet at the weekend.

The Conservative MP was alleged to have misled party leader Michael Howard when he denied having an extra-marital affair.

Mr Johnson denies misleading Mr Howard.

Business decision

Sources close to the Barclay Brothers say the decision to hand control of the magazine to Mr Neil had been planned for months, and is purely for commercial reasons.

They added that the Barclay Brothers had simply transferred ownership of the magazine from one part of their empire --The Telegraph Group - to another -- Press Holdings.

Mr Neil is publisher and editor in chief of Press Holdings and it is in this capacity that he has become chief executive of the Spectator.

Mr Johnson is to retain full editorial control at the magazine.

Last month, Mr Johnson was forced to apologise to the people of Liverpool after a Spectator editorial criticised the city's reaction to the death of Ken Bigley, the Liverpool man who was taken hostage and then killed in Iraq.