We are a new business entering the London market

They are on notice that they ha e to act in a responsible way as the dominant player. Any anti-competiti e acti ity will be looked at closely by us and others," he says, re erring to any attempts to slash ad ertising rates or to pre ent thelondonpaper's merchandisers rom operating."We are a new business entering the London market. We are a small player - despite NI's size - ersus Associated's port olio o Metro, the E ening Standard and now London Lite."It does seem strange hearing one o Mr Murdoch's senior executi es talking about the company being bullied. "It's a reworking o the E ening Standard and some o the stu out o their riday magazine," he says. "I'm not sure i this is an interim period where they are trying to establish their own sta but right now they're re-working Standard material almost exclusi ely."His oice alters slightly, howe er, when he mentions one thing that does seem to concern him: the prospect o real dirty tricks. "A bin has to ha e ease o access so people can pick a paper up without ha ing to cross three streams o ast-mo ing commuters."Milner rejects claims that a paper taken rom a merchandiser represents less o a conscious act than one deliberately picked out o a bin.Last Wednesday, Associated ired the opening shot o the battle by launching London Lite Predictably, Milner claims to be unimpressed. The E ening Standard has a legacy issue, which is that it has enormous cost and an enormous number o journalists to create a London newspaper."To maintain its circulation, the Standard has expanded its ootprint to Ox ord and Brighton, but now only sells 85,000 paid- or copies in London's zone one during the 4.30pm-7.30pm window in which thelondonpaper will operate, says Milner.The success o this enture, he maintains, is not dependent on securing licences to distribute ia bins in London underground or mainline railway stations."We don't need it but i it's there at the right price and i importantly we are able to get it right in terms o the logistics .. it's a aluable component," he says.

Not only is in estment increasing in the capital ahead o the 2012 Olympics, but the success o Associated's Metro in the mornings has shown an appetite or ree papers among young readers. That, and the E ening Standard's sales being down 20 per cent year-on-year to 300,000, represents a great opportunity, he thinks. "The E ening Standard is really at an historical low, both in terms o its circulation and also in terms o its pro itability, or lack o pro it. I you lay the E ening Standard's re enues on top o Metro's costs you ha e an extremely good business.

We are now igorously growing our multi-plat orm capability or all o our products - I think people can see what's going on in Times Online and Sun Online, which are growing extremely quickly, aster than the market."Milner claims that thelondonpaper, while taking ad antage o NI production acilities, will rarely cross-promote with its sister titles. He also dismisses the idea that the (apparently politically unaligned) ree paper will be ad ersely a ected by its association with The Sun. "It's the same issue as around The Times being a stablemate o The Sun," he says.He is adamant that this is the right time to launch a London ree. The creation o News International Magazines run by Milner's wi e, Camilla Rhodes and News International ree Newspapers Ltd is a mani estation o that. I think it's too simplistic to say the paid- or guys ha e missed a trick but there is now more creati ity, more dynamism in what is being o ered to clients than e er be ore."Lest NI's paid- or editors (Rebekah Wade, Andy Coulson, John Witherow and Robert Thomson) should be concerned, Milner is care ul to add the ca eat that, "you can ne er get to a point where commercial interests hold the journalistic pen".thelondonpaper is something di erent rom NI's other o erings, he emphasises, and part o a wider di ersi ication policy o the company "Strategically we' e mo ed to become a port olio player.