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Andrew Neil set for politics show on Channel 4 after quitting GB News

New stint would see broadcaster host Sunday evening show

Maanya Sachdeva
Saturday 29 January 2022 09:41 GMT
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Andrew Neil says he left GB News as he did not want to be part of ‘British Fox News’

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Andrew Neil is expected to sign a deal for a weekly politics show on Channel 4 after his stint at GB News.

The veteran broadcaster, who was the face of GB News when it launched last year, previously called his stint at the fledgling, right-leaning news channel the “worst eight months” of his career.

Neil, 72, left GB News acrimoniously in September 2021 and has since mocked the channel during interviews and appearances, calling it a “Ukip tribute band” and “British Fox News”.

On Friday (28 January), Broadcast reported that Neil was in pole position to host a new early-evening Sunday night political analysis show on Channel 4.

As part of it, Neil would be expected to provide commentary on the day’s news, interview important guests, and present a look ahead at the coming week.

Neil, who has previously described Channel 4 as the “broadcast arm of The Guardian” , had also reportedly been considering a return to the BBC. The Scottish journalist worked with the channel for 25 years, until 2020, before he was appointed the flagship presenter at GB News.

While there is no official confirmation on when Neil’s possible new politics show would be released, he will make his Channel 4 debut as the host of a special documentary on UK prime minister Boris Johnson.

The one-hour-long programme – titled Boris Johnson: Has He Run Out of Road – explores Johnson’s “political fight” in what the broadcaster has called “the biggest leadership in crisis in three decades”.

A press release for the documentary said that Neil will be “on the inside track of Conservative Party turmoil”.

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Andrew Neil described his time at GB News as the ‘worst eight months’ of his career
Andrew Neil described his time at GB News as the ‘worst eight months’ of his career (Getty Images)

During an appearance at Freeview’s Outside the Box event last November, Neil gave a scathing account of his time at GB News.

He said: “The big mistake I made – and it was a huge mistake, and it did cause pain and aggravation – was that I put my name and face on the tin and yet quickly discovered that I really had no say in what was going into that tin.”

Elsewhere, Neil discussed the psychological impact of working at a channel that was nowhere close to being ready for launch, telling Daily Mail he was “close to a breakdown” while working at GB News.

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