GB News tried to get Nigel Farage and Alistair Campbell to do a show together - but one of them wasn’t keen

GB News tried to cobble together a show with Nigel Farage and Alistair Campbell but Campbell wasn’t exactly keen.

According to journalist Tom Newton Dunn, the new news channel pursued the former spin doctor for six months, to no avail.

Writing inThe Evening Standard he said: “Station execs have also failed to persuade Alastair Campbell, I can reveal, despite a six-month pursuit.

“They wanted Tony Blair’s former spin chief to front their Sunday morning political show alongside Nigel Farage, so we could watch the pair shout at each other for three hours while God-fearing people are in church.

“Campbell refused, telling the station ‘you’re not for me’.”

Awkward.

Andrew Neil’s GB News launches on 13 June, much to the delight or horror of people, depending on where they sit on the political spectrum.

Featuring shows from former Guido Fawkes journalist Tom Harwood and former Brexit Party politician Michelle Dewberry, some have reasonably suspected the channel may have a political bias leaning slightly to the right, triggering comparisons to Fox News.

However, Neil claims the channel will feature “balance, robust debate” and it has also attracted figures from the left, including former Labour MP Gloria De Piero.

For their part, Farage prefers to post his inane ramblings direct to YouTube, or Cameo, and Campbell has been a guest host on Good Morning Britain so at least they are both keeping busy.

Newton Dunn also said the channel was in a rush to finalise its preparations and was currently operating out of a Hilton hotel.

“I’m told full rehearsals are under way for its shows, but not quite yet in its Paddington studios, which are still being built. Instead, the nearby Hilton hotel ballroom is its makeshift newsroom”, he revealed.

Sounds like things are ticking on nicely, then.