Steven Swinford joins Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph has hired Sunday Times reporter Steven Swinford. Swinford's move after five years at the Sunday Times comes shortly after another young reporter, Chris Gourlay, announced his departure. Gourlay said he would be leaving journalism for the time being to work for an internet startup "connected with the Big Society agenda". Both departures are understood to be unconnected with the spate of redundancies ordered by Times Newspapers as part of the publisher's commitment to cut 10% of its estimated £42.5m editorial budget for the next 12 months. A string of reporters including News Review editor Susannah Herbert and news reporter Christopher Hastings have left the Times titles in recent months. A Sunday Times spokesman and a Telegraph spokeswoman had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication. In addition, Julian Muscat, the Times's racing writer – and number two to racing correspondent Alan Lee – has confirmed that he is also leaving after 17 years on the paper. Lee will remain at the Times. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".