Boris Johnson has been criticised by veteran broadcaster and Spectator chairman Andrew Neil for his “policy-lite” keynote speech at the Tory Party conference.
Speaking to LBC on Thursday, Neil said the public had an “expectation we’d get some policy now” as the pandemic has subsided and as the UK is being plunged into crisis after crisis.
He continued: “You can have more alliteration, as Mr Johnson had, than a West Coast poet from the 60s on LSD.
“That’s all fine. But we’re a country with major problems and we need to know the government’s solution to these problems and on that Mr Johnson had not a jot.”
Neil pointed out: “This winter we’re going into a serious cost of living crisis which will hit the poorest most of all, we don’t know when the shortages on the supermarket shelves or the petrol forecourts will end.
“We don’t know what the policy is on social care, we don’t know what the policy is on the NHS, other than to bung it more money, and we don’t know what ‘levelling up’ means.”
PA/GettyAndrew Neil hit out at Boris Johnson after his speech on Wednesday
He said this was the first Conservative conference in five years when the party was not in some form of crisis – now that the divisions over Brexit have subsided and the pandemic has abated – meaning Johnson was in “world king” mode during his speech.
Neil agreed that Downing Street’s new promise to ‘level up’ the UK “is a very good idea,” especially as the UK needs more development in the Midlands and the north – but he added that this is an idea “without any flesh” at the moment.
The political pundit continued: “We have a right to know what the policies are, and to know if we have these been implemented yet.”
The former chairman of GB News speculated that Johnson’s popularity with voters comes down to his sunny optimism and that his rhetoric-heavy speech on Wednesday showed his priority is “bolstering the red wall”, rather than addressing the grim reality of the upcoming winter.
It’s no secret that GB News got off to a bumpy start when it debuted in June, with former chairman Andrew Neil detailing some of the behind-the-scenes drama that blighted his time with the station in a new interview following his departure.
In a new interview with the Daily Mail – during which he reportedly broke down in tears – Andrew spoke out about his time at GB News, explaining that working at the station brought him “close to a breakdown”.
Referring to GB News’ many technical blunders, he recalled: “Live TV is stressful at the best of times but not knowing whether or not the technology would work…
“It just got worse and worse. At one stage, we were waiting to go on air and the whole system went down. It had to be rebooted and we only managed it with 15 seconds to spare. That stress was just huge. It meant you couldn’t think about the journalism. You were just constantly wondering: ‘Will we make it through the hour?’.”
GB NewsAndrew Neil speaking live on GB News
He continued: “By the end of that first week, I knew I had to get out. It was really beginning to affect my health. I wasn’t sleeping. I was waking up at two or three in the morning.
“I had a constant knot in my stomach. When I did wake up I’d feel fine, then remember all the problems I had with GB News and this knot would come and wouldn’t leave me for the whole day.”
Referring to some of the station’s specific issues, he stated: “The studio had four areas. One was the digital wall, another was the breakfast table area – which I thought looked rather good – the other was the sofa, which looked like a Habitat sofa we’d picked up off a skip in Notting Hill, and the fourth, which was where I did my show from, was so black I had to take my jacket off and wear a white shirt.”
“We only had a floor manager because I’d insisted,” he claimed. “We were meant to operate our own autocue and do our own make-up. It makes student TV look well-financed.”
PAAndrew Neil posing with the on-air GB News team after its launch night
Andrew added that despite broadcasting from “the most diverse, multi-ethnic city in the world”, the team was not able to provide appropriate lighting for people of colour.
“I raised the issue that the reputational damage we were risking was monumental,” he told the Mail. “I said it was a disaster. There were endless things and, by the second week, things weren’t getting any better. Some things were getting worse. It was terrible.
“I came off air one night and I looked straight at [GB News’ CEO Angelos Frangopoulos], I said: ‘This is a disaster and it’s my reputation that’s on the line’.
“That’s what really did me in the end – and it’s my own stupidity for getting into it – the fact that everybody saw my face on the tin. It was Andrew Neil’s channel. That’s what everyone talked about.
“What nobody knew was [before the June launch] in March, April, May… my face was still on the tin but I had no say over what was going into the tin. That’s what was unsustainable for me.”
Leon Neal via Getty ImagesGB News has had a tumultuous few months since its launch in June
In leaving GB News, the Mail reports that Andrew “walked away from a £4 million contract”, though he insisted: “It was a big decision but I frankly couldn’t care if it was £40 million. This would have killed me if I’d carried on.”
A statement from GB News issued to the Daily Mail said: “As with all companies, decision-making rests with the board, and GB News is no different. As a member of the board, Andrew had the same rights and abilities to raise concerns, and he was privy to all decisions.”
Their spokesperson added: “The board allowed Andrew time off over the summer to recharge his batteries. He subsequently asked to leave and the board agreed to this request. The terms of his departure were properly negotiated and documented, with Andrew taking legal advice throughout.
“The fact that he has chosen to ignore these terms and make his departure unnecessarily contentious and public is a decision he will have to live with.”
HuffPost UK has contacted GB News for additional comment.
The veteran broadcaster said his former employer “unilaterally” cancelled his exit deal and he “couldn’t be happier” to have severed ties following his departure from GB News earlier this month.
A GB News spokeswoman told PA the channel had no comment on the remarks.
The presenter, who was also chairman of GB News, tweeted on Wednesday 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.”
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 claiming Andrew was about to be sacked before he walked.
The former BBC presenter had been chairman of the fledgling channel and its most high-profile star when it endured a troubled launch in June.
He took a break two weeks after the launch. Reports of a difference of opinion between him and other senior executives soon followed.
Initially, it was said he would still appear on the channel as a commentator.
However, he appeared on Question Time last week and said he had been in a “minority of one” over the future direction of GB News, which has been accused of trying to import Fox News-style journalism to the UK.
Eddie Keogh via ReutersAndrew Neil
“More and more differences emerged between myself and the other senior managers and the board of GB News,” he said.
“Rather than these differences narrowing, they got wider and wider and I felt it was best that if that’s the route they wanted to take then that’s up to them, it’s their money.
“The route is what I think you can see on GB News at the moment, people should make up their own minds what they want to watch.”
It said: “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.”
A number of big names joined the channel for its launch including ITV News journalist Alastair Stewart, BBC journalist Simon McCoy and former Labour MP Gloria De Piero.
Guto Harri quit the channel following a row over him taking the knee during a debate on the racism directed towards England football players, while other staff members have reportedly left.
Following the news of his departure, GB News chair Andrew Neil – another former BBC journalist, who stepped down from the corporation last year – revealed that Simon would be joining him at GB News later in the year.
Responding to the news of Simon’s BBC exit, Andrew tweeted: “Oh yes. @BBCSimonMcCoy is joining @GBNEWS… another great hire!!”
A GB News press release revealed that Simon will be hosting an afternoon show on the station.
The forthcoming station’s director of news and programmes John McAndrew said: “Simon’s journalistic integrity, warmth and personality is a perfect for what we’re doing at GB News.
“He’s a brilliant journalist with an exceptional ability to relate to people in an upbeat way so we’re keen to get him our from behind a desk and talking to people from all parts of the United Kingdom.”
BBCSimon McCoy
HuffPost UK has contacted Simon McCoy’s agent for additional comment.
GB News is a new 24-hour news channel which is launching later this year, which bosses have said is aimed at the “vast number of British people who feel underserved and unheard by their media”.
As Andrew Neil wrote recently in the Sunday Express: “I believe the direction of news debate in Britain is increasingly woke and out of touch with the majority of its people. I believe our national conversation has become too metropolitan, too southern and too middle-class.
“Some journalists and commentators seem too confident that their liberal-left assumptions must surely be shared by every sensible person in the land. But many of those same sensible people are fed up. They feel left out and unheard.
“There’s a restlessness, a sense that they’re being talked down to; that much of the media no longer reflects their values or shares their concerns. GB News is aimed squarely at those people.”
Matt Crossick – PA Images via Getty ImagesAndrew Neil pictured in 2008
Other recruits so far include The Sun’s executive editor Dan Wootton, journalist and political commentator Inaya Folarin Iman, former Brexit Party member Alexandra Phillips and former Apprentice contestant Michelle Dewberry.
It’s also been heavily rumoured that Piers Morgan will be joining the station, following his much-publicised exit from Good Morning Britain earlier this month.
Andrew Neil recently said he’d be “delighted” to set up a meeting with Piers, stating: “[He] would be a huge asset to GB News and we’ll definitely look at that… we haven’t started any negotiations yet but we would certainly be delighted to talk to him if he’s up for it.”
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