GB News team. Photo: PA
Three senior producers at GB News quit within days of each other last week as the station adopts an increasingly populist agenda, The Times has reported.
The future of the channel hangs in the balance after Andrew Neil confirmed his resignation, stepping down from his roles as chairman and host of his primetime show.
Officially, the former BBC broadcaster said that he was leaving to cut back on his “extensive portfolio of interests”.
However, behind the scenes his relationship with Angelos Frangopoulos, the GB News chief executive, is said to have soured dramatically after a calamitous launch in June.
According to reports in The Times three senior producers have also quit the news channel, with former BBC anchor Simon McCoy also believed to be considering his position.
It is believed two camps have emerged at the channel: One side of the divide are those who consider themselves traditional news journalists and the other is a growing roster of populist commentators who are making the station’s agenda more like that of Fox News.
Insiders have said that other more sensationalist voices are poised to join the station.
They include Ann Widdecombe and Martin Daubney, both former Brexit Party politicians, and Mahyar Tousi, a Conservative social media commentator.
“The idea that we aren’t Fox News is increasingly laughable,” a source told the newspaper.
It is also rumoured that the channel had failed in an ambitious attempt to sign Piers Morgan after offering him a seven-figure deal, which would have been comparable to his Good Morning Britain contract.
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