Tom Slater Tom Slater

Why is a Tory MP calling for GB News to be ‘taken off air’?

Tory MP Caroline Nokes and Adam Boulton on BBC Newsnight (Credit: BBC)

Well, that didn’t take long. We’re not even 48 hours into the latest Twitterstorm about upstart anti-woke news channel GB News – this time sparked by presenter Laurence Fox’s sexist, on-air comments about journalist Ava Evans – and it’s already become abundantly clear that all the outrage and fury isn’t really about those comments at all. 

On the BBC’s Newsnight programme last night, veteran journalist and broadcaster Adam Boulton had this to say: ‘I think there is a delicate and important broadcast ecology in this country. I think GB News is trying to bust that ecology, and frankly what Ofcom should do is shut it down’. 

Tory MP Caroline Nokes, who has never seen a bandwagon she hasn’t wanted to jump on, concurred.

‘Actually, I agree with Adam: it should be taken off air’, she added, to the surprise of no one. ‘I think Ofcom deserves a bit of time and space for it to do its job, and if we as parliament aren’t happy with the regulations that are set, then maybe we should be tightening them up.’

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