BBC axes Neil show
Bosses offered veteran interviewer ‘insulting jobs’ ++ Scourge of politicians could quit Beeb ++ Insiders say it’s like losing ‘crown jewels’
VETERAN broadcaster Andrew Neil was being forced out of the BBC last night after seeing his screen time slashed.
His hard-hitting eponymous political show was axed in the latest wave of news cuts at the corporation.
There are now fears the star presenter will walk away after it emerged he will also no longer front Politics Live, the daytime BBC2 show he chaired with Jo Coburn.
It is understood the tenacious 71-yearold – who famously challenged Boris Johnson to be grilled by him during the election campaign – has been ‘approached’ by other broadcasters.
Unhappy BBC insiders said bosses were forcing out the ‘crown jewel of interviewers’, having offered him ‘insulting’ slots for new programmes.
A Broadcasting House source said: ‘[Former director general] Tony Hall saw that Andrew Neil was the best interviewer around and forced the BBC to have him.
‘But Tony is yesterday’s man and the BBC2 schedulers made their land grab and are making it impossible for him to stay. He was offered a late afternoon show on BBC2, the 4.45pm slot where they usually put repeats, or tagged on after Marr on a Sunday. Both are insulting.
‘There’s an element of the Lefty, woke high-ups who are pleased with all of this. They are keeping Politics Live but hammering the budget and cutting reporters, they don’t know what they are doing.
‘They are doing to Andrew Neil what they would never dare do to the likes of Marr or Emily Maitlis.’
The corporation’s revised plans for cuts in its news division are deeper and more far-reaching than previously announced.
A total of 520 jobs will go, an increase of 70, from those announced at the start of the year. This comes from a total of about 6,000 employed in news.
The Andrew Neil Show has not been on since the Covid-19 pandemic took hold but will now not return.
The BBC yesterday claimed it was in discussions with Mr Neil about a ‘new interview series on BBC1’.
His on-air challenge to Mr Johnson to be quizzed by him, like the leaders of the other political parties, was part of worsening relations between the Government and the BBC during the general election.
The BBC also confirmed that Politics Live will be stripped back to four episodes a week and Mr Neil will no longer be a presenter on the show.
The programme used to broadcast every weekday but was pulled off air when the BBC changed its news output amid the Covid-19 crisis. It returned in June with only one episode a week.
Mr Neil, who has also fronted This Week and the Daily Politics for the BBC, recently told Radio Times he felt he may be ‘surplus to requirements’ at the corporation.
Labour MP Wes Streeting, responding to yesterday’s announcement, tweeted: ‘The cancellation of Andrew Neil’s show is great news for those in power wishing to avoid scrutiny and a shame for everyone else.’
Former Labour MP Kate Hoey added: ‘If Andrew Neil’s no longer on the BBC, it makes it much easier to stop watching any of their political coverage.’
Mr Neil yesterday retweeted Mr Streeting’s tweet along with another praising his work on TV.
He also retweeted an article from The Spectator titled ‘Will the BBC become a victim of its own bias?’ Mr Neil is chairman of the weekly current affairs magazine.
But a BBC source claimed ‘any talk of letting go of Andrew totally misses the mark’, adding people at the corporation were ‘ huge fans’ of his long-form interviews.
A spokesman added: ‘We remain committed to Andrew Neil’s indepth interviews (as well as the Budget, US Election and other Specials). The Andrew Neil Show will not be returning, but we’re in discussions about a new interview series on BBC1.’ According to the BBC’s media editor Amol Rajan, Mr Neil’s job talks ‘are far from resolved’ and two new proposals have ‘run aground’.
Announcing the cuts yesterday, the BBC said that the ‘increased financial pressure’ caused by Covid-19 meant job losses will rise from the original number announced in January.
The BBC made the first news cuts as part of an £80million savings push, which were paused while the corporation covered the health crisis. These are part of a bigger £800million package of savings announced in 2016.
But the pandemic has hit the BBC’s finances further, with the corporation also now looking to find another £125million in savings this year.
The crisis has also shown the corporation that new ways of working can be used, which save
‘Woke high-ups are pleased with it all’ ‘New proposals have run aground’
money. More interviews will be carried out on video services such as Zoom, cutting down on the need for radio cars and broadcasting trucks.
Yesterday’s announcement said there will be ‘fewer reporters overall’ and that ‘more correspondents will increasingly be asked to work across a range of content’.
A new ‘original journalism’ team will bring together ‘expertise’ from areas including the axed Victoria Derbyshire programme, to look at ‘under-reported’ stories.
Over at BBC World Service, cuts will see the show The World This Week axed and a shorter length version of Newsday.