Nigel Farage has returned to presenting GB News after a gap of more than six months, having been being forced to take a break from broadcasting because of May’s local elections and the Clacton by-election. He’s now back in his traditional primetime 7pm slot, three nights a week, Tuesday to Thursday.
Viewers watched the old, ebullient Nigel back in his element, not the bad-tempered Farage we witnessed this summer. And no wonder, given that last weekend his Reform party received two huge donations of £36m each from two cryptocurrency billionaires, Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.
While Reform’s £72m war-chest is great news for the party, in a strange way it actually poses a threat to GB News. Reform has been quick to announce how they’ll spend the crypto money. They’ll double their policy staff at Reform HQ from 10 to 20, and recruit 100 campaign agents for target seats around the country. Much more ambitious, and probably more costly though, are plans for a new online Reform Party TV channel on YouTube. It’s being dubbed Reform TV, but that title is dull. A stronger name would be “Farage TV”, which is thought more likely to excite its probable viewers.
But what will Farage do about his continuing commitment to GB News? For five years he’s been the star of the nationalistic, right-wing, pro-Brexit channel, presenting hour-long shows in the primetime 7pm slot. Farage has shown himself to be an astonishingly effective TV anchorman. Without him, and without Farage’s personality and popularity, the channel might have crashed long ago.
How will GB News bosses respond to their biggest and best-paid presenter moonlighting for a rival channel which actually bears his name?
When I met Farage briefly in the GB News Westminster studio this week, I asked him if he’d be switching his nightly Farage show to Reform’s new channel. He clearly understood the deliciousness of my question, and responded with that traditional Farage combined grin and chuckle where his face lights up all animated. It would surely be possible, he suggested, to ride both horses at once, and perform on both channels?
Really? Not even Farage has the broadcasting skill to appear on both channels at 7pm simultaneously. Especially at a time when people are urging him to cut back his busy, exhausting lifestyle. Where would his loyalties lie? Which channel would get priority on the really big news days?
Ladies and gentlemen, take your seats for a right royal battle between the two right-wing channels, both essentially devoted to Nigel Farage and his party.
Most presenters and staff at GB News seem to be members or supporters of Reform UK. Several are personally connected with Farage and some owe their jobs to him. Patrick Christys used to look after Farage’s social media output in the early days of the Reform party; fellow GB presenter Martin Daubney was briefly a member of the European Parliament for the Brexit Party, the forerunner to Reform. Matt Goodwin, Reform’s disastrous candidate in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election, used to have his own GB News show. And two Reform bigwigs, Lee Anderson and Richard Tice, are also on the presenting roster. Indeed Tice, deputy leader of the party, has often filled in for his leader on nights when Farage hasn’t been available.
Farage TV must surely be the favourite to win this compelling battle, simply because they will have almost endless dosh from the crypto kings – whereas GB News, after five years in operation, is still losing money. This summer it announced it was axing 90 jobs, more than a third of its staff.
For Farage TV to work, Farage will have to be paid handsomely – otherwise his duties for the channel would become another daily party chore. Indeed, he could make a financial killing and perhaps double the estimated £3,000 he gets per show on GB News. In effect, Farage could get a substantial rake-off from the £72m gift.
GB News bosses must be anxious. Farage TV is bound to eat into its ratings since so many of the channel’s viewers are devoted, if not fanatical Reform party fans, and bound to switch to the new outlet. What’s more, it will probably have enough money to poach the best of GB News’s staff – not just presenters, but backroom producers too.
In the last few days, Geoff Marsh, a former Express journalist who was until recently head of digital at GB News, has been contracted to spend 100 days working out just how Farage TV would work. He looks set to become one of the channel’s first permanent signings. The initial target, I hear, is 25 new staff, many poached from GB News, as well as students straight from university.
Farage TV will have another advantage, too. As simply an internet TV channel, rather than broadcast through satellite or cable, it won’t have to comply with the burden and complexities of regulations imposed by the British broadcasting regulator Ofcom. That means that unlike GB News, it won’t have to worry about regular Ofcom investigations into allegations that its output is politically biased.
Operating solely online, Farage TV could be as politically partisan as it likes, and dispense with the need for token voices from the left. But it would be unwise for it to operate as a slavish, Nigel-adoring party propaganda channel. Even the most hardened Reform fanatics might find that dull. Farage TV will have to range more widely than the narrow nationalism and anti-wokery of GB News or Rupert Murdoch’s TalkTV. Above all, Farage TV has to be entertaining and fun.
For the man himself it would offer something else too – a convenient escape route, if he ever needs one, from the leadership of his party (and I calculate he’s quit from leading his various parties four or five times already over the last 20 years). Farage recently said his family have urged him to give up the leadership, and many suspect he may well jack it in before the next election. Farage TV, if it succeeds in getting a decent audience, would give him a respectable way of standing down while still playing a major role in Reform politics.
Farage must handle the coming battle between his two TV outlets with great care, however. If he jumps ship entirely from GB News – especially with public fanfare and enthusiasm – many of his old colleagues – at least those who’ve not been poached – might feel resentful and betrayed, and seek revenge.
Meanwhile, the many people in politics and the media who detest Reform and Farage can now sit back and watch with relish the unfolding drama of GB News vs Farage TV.
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