Andrew Neil delays his GB News return amid talk of rift
Jake Kanter, Media Correspondent
Friday September 03 2021, 12.00am, The Times
Andrew Neil is ready to quit GB News amid increasingly strained relations with senior management at the fledgling news channel.
The former BBC broadcaster, who helped to launch the channel, had been expected to return on Monday but it is now likely that he has presented his final show.
Neil, who also serves as chairman of GB News, has been in talks about his return without a resolution. GB News said last month that it was “looking forward” to welcoming him back in September, but the channel did not repeat this statement when approached for comment yesterday.
He has not presented his 8pm show since June 24, telling viewers that he was taking a break only two weeks after GB News was launched. At the time, Neil said he would be “back before the summer is out”.
Colin Brazier, the former Sky News presenter, and Alastair Stewart, the former ITV News anchor, have provided cover for Neil.
Insiders have been sceptical about Neil’s return. “I won’t believe it until I see it,” one employee said. “Hopefully he gets over himself and comes back — for the good of everyone.”
In
an interview with The Times last weekend, Stewart said that he was confident of Neil’s return, saying: “I firmly believe, and I have no reason to doubt, that Andrew will be back with us in September.”
Sources have suggested that the former BBC presenter has been sidelined after
clashes with Angelos Frangopoulos, the channel’s chief executive. It is understood that Neil regarded
GB News’s launch as shambolic after it was plagued by poorly lit sets, misspelt captions, misbehaving graphics and lost connections to guests.
The GB News board is said to have raised questions about its performance. The channel has been averaging a daily audience of 20,000 recently, compared with 34,000 in its first five weeks.
Executives pointed out that GB News occasionally beat Sky News in the ratings and that 80 per cent of its audience lived outside London.
Neil has not been totally absent from GB News. He appeared, via video link, on Nigel Farage’s programme on August 19 to discuss the crisis in Afghanistan.
Yesterday GB News said that Isabel Oakeshott, a former
Sunday Times journalist, would present a daily political programme called
The Briefing.