Nigel Farage has announced he will present a primetime show on GB News after stepping back from frontline politics earlier this year.

The former Reform UK leader will host Farage at 7pm on the national news channel from Monday.

It comes as audience viewers plummeted this week, following a boycott after one of the controversial network’s presenters, Guto Harri, took the knee in solidarity with the England football team.

 

There are also reports the channel’s director of news and programmes, John McAndrew, has stepped down and Harri has been taken off air.

In a video announcing the news, Mr Farage said “I will not be taking the knee for anyone on this show” in reference to presenter Harri, who made the gesture on air earlier this week.

Mr Farage said: “Since politics I have done a fair bit of broadcasting and broadcasting matters. It really, really does.

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

READ MORE: GB News had 'zero viewers' after Guto Harri taking the knee sparks boycott

Mr Farage, former leader of the UK Independence Party, said he had more than three years broadcasting experience at LBC and suggested he had enjoyed “some degree of success” at the talk radio station.

“On YouTube I’ve had millions of people watching my videos and often I’ve covered stories that everybody else wants to ignore,” he added.

Earlier in the day, he said on Twitter he would be announcing a “big career change”.

The former MEP was among the first guests to appear on the fledgling broadcaster, featuring on Dan Wootton’s show during launch night.

It comes after GB News chairman Andrew Neil, who has been absent from the channel after announcing a break two weeks into its launch, said it was “finding its feet” but had a “great future” ahead of it.

 

His comments came after The Guardian reported that Harri was taken off air after the channel said he breached its “standards” by taking the knee in support of England’s footballers.

On Thursday, GB News apologised after Harri made the gesture while discussing the racial abuse suffered by members of the national side following their loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.