Neil accused his former employer of 'unilaterally' cancelling an exit deal he had agreed with them and said that he ‘couldn’t be happier’ to have severed ties.
Andrew Neil has vowed never to appear on GB News again, accusing the channel of leaking ‘smears and lies’ to a newspaper.
The chairman of the Spectator and former BBC journalist accused his former employer of ‘unilaterally’ cancelling an exit deal he had agreed with them and said that he ‘couldn’t be happier’ to have severed ties.
Neil tweeted yesterday evening: “After weeks of talks with @GBNEWS, resulting in exit settlement, the channel then broke it by briefing Mail on Sunday with load of smears/lies then unilaterally cancelling exit deal. Leaving me free to do, say whatever I want + never again be on GBNews. Couldn’t be happier.”
A report in the Mail on Sunday cited a leaked memo which claimed Neil was about to be sacked before he walked.
The latest incident comes after weeks of growing tensions. A mere two weeks after the channel’s launch, which was hit by a number of controversies, including technical problems, Covid conspiracies and advertising boycotts to name but a few, Neil went on leave and never returned.
He has since resigned as chairman and quit as a presenter. In his first media appearance following his departure, Neil went on BBC Question Time to distance himself from the channel.
GB News has been likened to Fox News in America and Neil told the audience he had always made it clear the GB News wouldn’t be like Fox News which ‘deals in untruths, it deals in conspiracy theories and it deals in fake news and that’s not my kind of journalism’. However, when pushed by presenter Fiona Bruce if that was the reason why he left, Neil said people could draw their own conclusions.
He also claimed he had been in a “minority of one” over the future direction of GB News. Bosses at the channel were said to be furious with his remarks and issued a rebuttal. GB News said in response at the time: “During last night’s BBC Question Time, a number of demonstrably untrue remarks were made about GB News. We stand for fair debate, tolerance, free speech and factual journalism. There are always more than two sides to any story and we believe in listening to all of them.”
Basit Mahmood is co-editor of Left Foot Forward
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