GB News to axe a third of its workforce while protecting its highly paid political stars

GB News is reportedly preparing to cut up to a third of its workforce in its latest cost-cutting drive, even as some of its highest-profile political presenters continue to receive six-figure salaries.

According to The Times, the broadcaster is expected to eliminate as many as 90 jobs from its 260-strong workforce. Editorial, technology and HR are among the departments facing cuts.

The latest restructuring follows a previous round of redundancies in 2024, when around 40 jobs, roughly 14 percent of the workforce at the time, were lost.

One former employee told The Times that the newsroom was already operating with minimal staffing.

“It is already very, very lean although it had fattened slightly after the last round of redundancies because that’s the natural way of things. Output was affected last time and it will be again but newsrooms just absorb it. Fewer stories, done less well.”

While journalists and production staff face another wave of redundancies, the channel’s best-paid political presenters are reportedly unaffected. The Telegraph reports that Nigel Farage, former Conservative business secretary Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, and breakfast host Eamonn Holmes are not expected to be affected by the cuts.

In June, DeSmog reported that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and party chair Lee Anderson have collectively earned more than £1 million from GB News. Farage has received more than £700,000 from the broadcaster since entering Parliament in July 2024, making GB News his largest single source of income during that period. According to parliamentary records, he has earned £704,000 from the channel since he became MP for Clacton.

Up until his resignation this week, Farage was the UK’s highest-earning MP, declaring more than £2 million in outside earnings in less than two years, in addition to his parliamentary salary of £94,000 a year.

Lee Anderson, meanwhile, has earned more than £300,000 during his three years as a GB News presenter. His register of interests states that he receives £100,000 a year from the broadcaster, having joined in March 2023.

GB News has relied heavily on serving and former politicians as presenters. Reform UK politician Matthew Goodwin, who unsuccessfully contested the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, also hosts programmes on the channel.

During its first five years, seven sitting MPs were permitted to present regular GB News programmes, including four Conservatives. Since the 2024 general election, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who lost his North East Somerset seat, has remained the broadcaster’s only Conservative political presenter.

The scale of those payments has attracted scrutiny. In February 2024, the Guardian reported that Rees-Mogg had been earning more than £29,000 a month from his GB News presenting role while serving as an MP, and that the broadcaster had paid more than £660,000 to Conservative MPs since its launch.

The latest job cuts raise fresh questions about GB News’s spending priorities, with dozens of newsroom and operational staff expected to lose their jobs while the broadcaster retains its roster of highly paid political presenters known for delivering overtly partisan programming.