Nigel Farage joins GB News as former Ukip leader vows ‘not to take the knee on the show’

The former Ukip leader has announced his new role (Picture: Rob Stothard/Getty Images)

Nigel Farage has announced that he is officially joining GB News after retiring from frontline politics earlier this year.

Mr Farage made the announcement on Saturday after previously teasing on Twitter that he would be revealing a ‘big career change’.

Several Twitter users correctly guessed that the former politician would be joining Andrew Neil’s channel, which has recently faced declining viewing figures.

In his tweet announcing his news, Mr Farage said that ‘I will not be taking the knee on this show’, in reference to Guto Harri taking the knee live on air last week.

‘Since politics I have done a fair bit of broadcasting and broadcasting matters, it really, really does,’ Mr Farage said in a video.

‘It gets people to look at issues, think about issues in different ways and can be very influential.’

Mr Farage will host a self-titled show at 7pm Monday to Thursday on GB News.

Ahead of Mr Farage’s official appointment on GB News, he retweeted chair Andrew Neil’s statement about the ‘great future’ of the channel.

Andrew Neil insisted in a recent statement that GB News has a ‘great future’ (Picture: Rex/GB News)

This week, GB News made headlines when a presenter took the knee live on air in solidarity with the England men’s football team’s demonstration against racism.

GB News subsequently released a statement concerning Guto’s actions, stating that while the channel does not ‘have a company line on taking the knee’, it was ‘an unacceptable breach of our standards’.

Following Guto’s taking of the knee on GB News, some viewers called for a boycott of the channel, claiming it had become ‘too woke’.

It was later reported that some of GB News’ programmes that aired the following day attracted ‘zero viewers’, marking a sharp decline in viewership since its launch in mid-June.

In a statement released by Mr Neil, he insisted that GB News still has a bright future ahead.

More: Nigel Farage

‘Start ups are fraught and fractious. @GBNEWS is no exception,’ he tweeted.

‘But the news channel is finding its feet and has a great future. Watch this space.’

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