Peter Barron, editor of the BBC’s flagship Newsnight current affairs show, is leaving to become Google’s (NSDQ: GOOG) communications and policy head in north-west Europe, Guardian.co.uk reports. Four years trying to edit Jeremy Paxman must be enough for anyone; this move, which sees Barron cross the fence in to PR, will provoke intrigue in broadcasting. From September, Barron will report to David-John Collins, who was upped to director of the comms role across the wider EMEA region earlier this year after Rachel Whetstone moved to Google in the US. Barron will cover the UK, Ireland and Benelux region. Ema Linaker left as EMEA comms manager to head SpinVox’s comms in October. Barron has become acquainted with the machinations of PR – not only is Newsnight is high-profile, he’s had to keep a blog for the last couple of years to explain some of his editorial decisions.