Sunday Mail (UK)

GB News presenters and their right-wing nonsense are a real turn-off

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My favourite measuremen­t of political time is the Scaramucci, named after Anthony Scaramucci.

You’ll remember him – he was Trump’s communicat­ions director for 10 days. Even in the revolving-door world of the Trump administra­tion, this was a record.

Andrew Neil lasted just nine Scaramucci­s – three months – at GB News. Of course, there are difference­s between Scaramucci and Neil.

Neil launched the failing news channel in June, with much fanfare and the hiring of “controvers­ial” (i.e. really offensive) personalit­ies such as Nigel Farage, Dan Wootton and Neil Oliver.

They were all very much hoping that the British people would have an appetite for a Fox-type news channel. You know, one that doesn’t deal in actual news but in crazed right-wing opinion.

Some of their shows – like Farage’s Talking Pints, where Nigel has a pint with some lunatic he knows – were so deranged, they could have come from an Alan Partridge fever dream.

Well, it turned out the British public weren’t that interested. After a month or so, GB News’ viewing figures were being reported as zero. That’s right, literally no one – not even the presenters’ mums – was watching it.

So last week, like the captain leaping off the

Titanic before it went down, Neil announced his resignatio­n from the channel he launched just nine short Scaramucci­s ago.

But, like Scaramucci, he’ll be back. I mean, you can’t move for hearing about that guy these days, right?

Right?

 ??  ?? QUITTING Andrew Neil
QUITTING Andrew Neil

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