Ian Smith, who left Reed Elsevier on Wednesday less than a year after he started as chief executive, was never the right man for the top job at the Anglo-Dutch publisher. Former chairman, Jan Hommen, now departed for ING, and the rest of the board must take the blame for placing their bets on a relatively untested outsider at a time of upheaval in the publishing industry. Along with the shambolic search for a new chief executive and chairman at ITV, investors could be forgiven for wondering whether UK media companies have lost their ability to do succession planning entirely.

Never mind. Six months after new chairman Anthony Habgood arrived, Mr Smith, a former management consultant whose biggest role before Reed was briefly running housebuilder Taylor Woodrow, is out. Reed’s shares fell 4 per cent in London as the company also issued a trading update suggesting margins would slide next year.