The Spectator the ladder to high office in the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. Past editors include Boris Johnson (1999–2005) and other former cabinet members Iain Macleod, Ian Gilmour, and Nigel Lawson. In late 2008, "Spectator Australia" was launched; the current editor is Rowan Dean. This offers 12 pages of "Unique Australian Content" (including a separate editorial page) in addition to the full UK contents. Readership of "The Spectator Australia" was revealed through a court case as being 3,000. "The Spectator"s founding editor, the Dundonian reformer Robert Stephen Rintoul, launched the paper in July 1828 with a first issue for the
William Rintoul a plant for the recovery of acetone during the production of cordite. In 1909, the superintendent of the Gunpowder Factory, Sir Frederic Nathan, moved to the Nobel Enterprises, an explosives plant in Ardeer, Scotland founded in 1870 by Alfred Nobel. Rintoul followed him and assumed the post of research manager. His organizational activities brought him in close contact with a wide range of scientists both in Britain and abroad. For his contribution to supporting the army in the World War I, Rintoul was decorated with the Order of the British Empire. He was a member of numerous committees including the