GB News presenter Nana Akua has revealed what made her leave the BBC after 13-years working for the UK’s broadcaster.
The 53-year-old, who joined GB News in the summer of 2021, joined a panel of Tories on Tuesday to discuss the rise of Reform UK.
When fielding questions from members of the audience, panellists discussed GB News and the collapse in confidence in the BBC.
Explaining her reasons for switching from the BBC to GB News, Akua said: “I used to work for the BBC. They used to train me in many ways and I’m very grateful for that.
“But after I got my training I worked for them in total for 13 years. I left because I couldn’t say anything, really.
“I wanted to question climate change and I couldn’t because I knew I’d be out of a job if I did and I do not support Black Lives Matter at all.
“I thought they were a far-left Marxist pressure group and when my boss at the BBC asked me to promote an event Black Lives Matter was having I sent an email saying I don’t think you can do.
“I left shortly after that. And thank God GB News was there. I wrote to GB News and said give me a job. They hadn’t started but I knew what they were about and I was ready, I wanted to speak my mind.”
Akua, who described taking the knee as “virtue-signalling”, stressed not all Black Britons think the same and highlighted the differences by comparing it to varying viewpoints from across the UK.
However, it was not only Akua who discussed the importance of GB News.
Ex-Tory MP Marco Longhi said: “I think we have become accustom to a media whose broadcasters see themselves as celebrities but thank God for GB News.
“It’s actually says something about how bad the Labour Party are if even the likes of Laura Kuennesberg and other broadcasters are really now having a go at Labour, Starmer and Rayner.
“They’re still rooted in the centre-left to say the left, so I say it again, thank God for GB News.”
Annunziata Rees-Mogg added: “I can remember being in a lift when Boris Johnson was first elected as mayor and someone who was behind the scenes and not very senior got in the lift we me.
“He said ‘please don’t tell anyone but I voted for Boris, I’ll be fired if they know’. That should not be what we hold up as our national broadcaster.”
Nana Akua
GB News
“I think that they need to know that they are distrusted, that they are seen as bias.”
Confidence in the BBC has plummeted in recent years, with a series of scandals causing concern for viewers.
There have been major questions about bias following the broadcaster’s decision to initially describe Hamas as “militants” rather than terrorists.
Match of the Day host Gary Lineker has also landed the corporation in hot water after making a series of politically-charged comments, including about the previous Government’s efforts to curb illegal migration.
However, the Huw Edwards scandal was just the latest to rock Broadcasting House after the 63-year-old pleaded guilty to child pornography offences.
Edwards was given a bumper £40,000 pay rise despite being suspended in April 2023.
The BBC became a major talking point across all three recent party conferences.
Reform UK chief whip Lee Anderson ripped up a copy of a BBC licence fee letter at the NEC in Birmingham.
Labour is looking to decriminalise non-payment of the licence fee amid fears it disproportionately impacts women.
The issue is reportedly being ironed out by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly also voiced his support for ending the licence fee altogether, replacing the tax with a subscription-based model.
He said: “If Disney and Netflix can make money on the subscription model, the BBC should because in the era of streaming services, the tax to watch television is an unsustainable one.”
