Michael Portillo is joining GB News as one of the first of a raft of new hires being made by the broadcaster. The former cabinet minister and TV presenter will join the network's political team.
Portillo will launch his own programme in the autumn. His previous TV shows include Great Continental Railway Journeys, Great Asian Railway Journeys and Great American Railroad Journeys.
GB News has made a number of new hires, with Portillo being the first big name to join its ranks. Also moving to GB News is journalist and broadcaster Camilla Tominey who will take up a senior political presenting role, in addition to her existing position as associate editor at the Telegraph.
Journalist and political commentator Andrew Pierce will also have his own show later this year while continuing his senior editorial position at the Daily Mail. The channel’s new initiative will include a weekly national survey titled The GB News People’s Poll, the broadcaster said.
Chief executive Angelos Frangopoulos also confirmed that GB News has successfully won a competitive process to move from Virgin Media channel 626 to the more prominent 604 position. The new recruits come after the channel secured a £60million investment from existing backers Legatum Ventures Limited and Sir Paul Marshall, who bought out Discovery Inc following its merger with WarnerMedia earlier this year.
Warner Bros Discovery said the decision to sell its GB News shareholding was part of a “continued evaluation” of its investments after the merger – “a move that brought several wholly owned news assets, including CNN Worldwide, into its portfolio”. Mr Frangopoulos said GB News is “enormously grateful” to Warner Bros Discovery for its “wisdom and support” through the start-up phase and they “part as friends”. He added that the renewed investment will give GB News the “financial muscle” to build for the long term in a competitive market.
He said: “We’ve already employed more than 200 journalists and now we’ll invest more deeply in a number of areas, including a new digital product suite, our technology and studio, subtitles, additional distribution platforms, and exciting new talent.”
The two co-founders of GB News, Andrew Cole and Mark Schneider, both resigned as directors after Legatum and Sir Paul bought their shareholdings. The £60mfundraise is expected to be completed in the next few weeks, a statement said.
