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Boris Johnson

2024, less will be more

At this time last year, I was writing about the shameful shambles that was the inevitable disintegration of Richard Sharp’s tenure as BBC Chair. A cash machine crony of Boris Johnson, his tenure was nothing short of embarrassing all round. It has taken a year for a new Chair, Samir Shah, to be named. The […]

January 4, 2024

UK government loses £200m on OneWeb stake

The merger between Eutelsat and constellation operator OneWeb has cost the UK taxpayer around £200 million (€230.9m) in losses. The unexpected decision to rescue OneWeb from bankruptcy was driven, at least in part, by anxieties that China could gain control of the struggling business. Dominic Cummings, a key adviser to the now disgraced former Prime […]

January 2, 2024By Chris Forrester

GB News seeking £30m injection

GB News, the right-leaning current affairs broadcaster, is reportedly in talks to raise millions of pounds as it contends with a number of Ofcom investigations and a dwindling number of advertisers. SGB News’ parent company, All Perspectives Limited, is targeting a fundraising worth in the region of £30 million (€35.08m) in the coming months, with […]

December 11, 2023

Govt set to block BBC licence fee increase

UK Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer has suggested that the government is to block an expected 9 per cent licence fee increase set out in a funding agreement struck by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The fee is supposed to rise in line with inflation from April 2024, and in the three years after that. Speaking […]

December 4, 2023

Johnson joining GB News

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is joining GB News as a presenter, programme maker and commentator. Johnson, who joins in the new year, will play a key role in the channel’s coverage of both the UK general election and the US elections next year. GB News added that Johnson “will create and present a new […]

October 30, 2023

Banijay Rights acquires rights to Boris Johnson docuseries

Banijay Rights has acquired global distribution rights to Boris (working title), a new 72 Films documentary series that chronicles the rise and fall of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Produced by 72 Films (The Trump Show, Crime & Punishment) for Channel 4 in the UK, Boris is the definitive documentary series that reveals the […]

February 20, 2023

BBC Sharp practice not good enough

Richard Sharp, the current Chair of the BBC, may have been an outstanding banker. He worked for both JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs and, presumably, made them a lot of money, certainly made himself rich. Is that the definition of a good banker? Did he do it more outstandingly than any of the other individuals […]

February 14, 2023

MPs: BBC Chair’s ‘significant errors of judgement’

BBC Chair Richard Sharp made ‘significant errors of judgement’ when failing to declare his role in the facilitation of a loan to the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and should reflect on the potential damage caused to trust in the Corporation, according to the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. The conclusion from the Committee […]

February 13, 2023By Colin Mann

BBC Chair fends off ‘jobs for chums’ jibe

Richard Sharp, the BBC chair, has told MPs his only role in providing a loan to Boris Johnson shortly before he got the job was to “ensure due process was followed”. Sharp said he had personally told Johnson as well as Rishi Sunak, the then chancellor, that he was going for the BBC job before […]

February 7, 2023

C4 privatisation set to be shelved

The proposed privatisation of UK commercial PSB Channel 4 is set to be dropped, according to the FT, with newly-elected Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reassessing policy pledges made by previous administrations as he considers his legislative priorities. “We are looking at all the campaign pledges and we are looking at whether it is the right […]

November 4, 2022By Colin Mann