He has held the largely honorary role for the past three years after standing down as Mail editor-in-chief in 2018.
Sources told the Guardian that the arrangement ended last week, ending his 42-year association with the Daily Mail, including a quarter of a century as editor.
The Guardian noted the departure clears the way for Dacre to make a fresh application to be chair of Ofcom, for which he has Downing Street's backing. He applied for the role in May, but had his application rejected by an interview board.
Instead of accepting the decision of the board and appointing another candidate, Downing Street decided not to give the position to one of the candidates who passed the interview process. Instead, they decided to recommence the recruiting process giving Dacre the opportunity to apply again.
Conservative MP Julian Knight, who chairs the culture select committee, told the Guardian that there was no justification for restarting the recruitment process and that Dacre should be blocked from the job. “Where a previous candidate has been deemed to be unappointable for a post, they should be ruled out of reapplying,” he said.
However, Lord Parkinson, an arts minister, told the Lords there would be no ban on any applicants and “the recruitment process will be launched imminently”.
The final decision lies with Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, and will be made in consultation with Downing Street.
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