Jeff Richmond was the editor of the Weatherfield Gazette in 1990. At the beginning of that year, the paper's owner Ted Lucas bought out the rival Weatherfield Recorder from Ken Barlow and, as part of the deal, gave Ken and Wendy Crozier jobs at the Gazette - Wendy as secretary, and Ken as Jeff's immediate subordinate.
Jeff was unhappy at having Ken foisted on him and made little effort to form a good working relationship with him. At first, Ken didn't mind as having spent months fighting to keep the Recorder going, a job with less pressure suited him. By March, the novelty was wearing off, with Ken expressing his annoyance at Jeff turning down his proposals to print wedding photographs in colour and take aerial pictures of the town, which Jeff labelled gimmicky and prohibitively expensive.
Ken had sold the paper after splitting from Deirdre and, with Tracy caught between both parents, Ken had to take time off to sort things out, postponing a meeting with an advertiser on one occasion. Dissatisfied with Ken's conduct, Jeff summoned him to his office to chew him out, although Ken in turn tackled Jeff about his attempts to stymie his input, remarking that Ken going out and buying a packet of paper clips was about all that his stiff superior would rubber stamp. When Jeff pointed out that he'd been lumbered with him, Ken inferred that he didn't have confidence in his ability to do his job and threatened to resign. Jeff accepted without hesitation, suggesting that Ken clear out his desk that day to give himself plenty of time to deal with his "personal problems".
Ken tried to save his job by going over Jeff's head to Ted Lucas, but Lucas stood by Jeff and, as a final kick in the gut, Wendy took over his position in all but name.