Andrew Neil hits out at ‘woke warriors’ trying to cancel new GB News station before it even starts

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Andrew Neil today slammed ‘woke warriors’ for trying to cancel his new GB News channel before it even starts.

The former BBC presenter laid into activists after they launched a sabotage campaign against his soon-to-be-launched TV channel.

Twitter activists are urging firms not to advertise with the new station under the hashtag ‘Don’tFundGBNews’, because they fear the channel will be ‘like America’s Fox News‘ – a comparison bosses have rejected.

And those backing the campaign, including equality campaigner Femi Oluwole, have threatened to cancel their phone contracts if companies such as EE and Vodafone pay for advertising spaces on the channel.

But Mr Neil, who is the chairman of GB News, today hit out at those behind the campaign.

His comments come as he described news debate in Britain as ‘increasingly woke and out of touch with the majority of its people’ in an interview with the Sunday Express.

In a tweet he said: ‘The woke warriors trying to stir up an advertising boycott of GB News, a channel that hasn’t even started broadcasting, are hilarious.

‘Even funnier is their threat to cancel mobile phone contracts of operators who dare to advertise on GB News. 

‘I mean have they ever tried to cancel a mobile contract?! But GB News will be ready to help. We will campaign for easier cancellation.’

The row erupted last night when campaign group Stop Funding Hate – previously criticised as a ‘hard-left censorship group’ – urged people to join the hashtag Don’tFundGBNews.  

The group, founded a former Amnesty International worker, said on Twitter: ‘If you want to help stop ‘Fox News style’ TV in Britain: ‘Tweet your mobile phone company using the hashtag #DontFundGBNews

‘Urge them not to advertise with GB News or any ‘Fox News style’ channel, & explain why this matters to you.’

GB News officials have repeatedly hit back at the Fox News comparison, with some media experts expecting the channel to be ‘right-leaning’ rather than right wing.   

The hashtag was backed by LBC Presenter Natasha Devon, who threatened to quit Vodafone, as well as Mr Oluwole, a political activist and co-founder of the pro-European Union advocacy group Our Future Our Choice, threatened EE to threaten to quit their network if they advertise with GB News. 

He said: ‘Hi EE, I was on Orange since I started using mobile phones and switched to you almost as soon as you took them over.

‘But I will switch service provider immediately if I hear of one EE advert placed on that channel. #DontFundGBNews.’

But while the Tweet received support from some, many quickly criticised his backing of the campaign, saying it amounted to ‘mass censorship’.

One Twitter user said: ‘Democracy to the far left is now a mix of mass censorship, persecution and an absolute intolerance of hearing an viewpoint that is different to their own.

‘But all the time they project how ‘inclusive’ they are. A very dangerous form of hypocrisy.’  

But Mr Oluwole later hit back in a follow-up tweet, saying: ‘The irony is: Nobody is talking about actually censoring GB News.

‘I talked about simply refusing to pay them via their advertisers.

‘And Right-wingers gave me so much abuse I twitter-trended for 6hrs! Apparently consumer choice isn’t a freedom these people respect. #DontFundGBNews.’

Others to criticise the campaign include Conservative MP James Cleverly, who said: ‘I’m waiting for someone to jump up and shout “I saw GB News dancing with the Devil”.’

Susan Hall, Leader of the Greater London Authority Conservatives, said: ‘So against free speech and competition now are we Femi – don’t agree with #GBNews- great reason for many more of us to tune in, I can’t wait!’

Editor of the Jewish Chronicle Stephen Pollard also criticised the campaign, saying: ‘GB News hasn’t broadcast a word yet. It is staffed by some of the most eminent and brilliant journalists in Britain.

‘And these people want to close it down. For shame.’

Actor Lawrence Fox added that he would take out two EE contacts if the company didn’t bow to the pressure of the campaign group, while conservative political commentator Darren Grimes accused the ‘left of trying to extinguish diversity of thought’.

Bosses behind GB News say they aim to rival BBC and Sky as well as to reach those who feel ‘undeserved and unheard’ by the media.

Mr Neil will be the face and chairman of GB News, after ending his 25 year relationship with the BBC, where he has been one of the most respected political interviewers. 

Sun journalist Dan Wootton, who broke the story of Megxit, will also join the news channel. Mr Wootton will host a daily show, five days a week, on GB News. 

The yet-to-be launched channel has been compared to American right-wing news outlet Fox News due to its format, which Mr Neil said will feature ‘news anchors with a bit of edge’. Other comparisons made include a TV-version of radio version LBC.

But bosses say the channel, which will be regulated by Ofcom, will remain ‘impartial’.

Chief Executive Angelos Frangopoulos said last month that bosses ‘are committed to impartial journalism’. 

Meanwhile, Mr Neil told The Spectator: ‘I am as neutral and as impartial as anybody on the BBC.

‘I come from a different political tradition but I don’t let that affect how I do interviews.’  

It comes as Mr Neil today described Britain’s news debate as ‘increasingly woke’ and ‘out of touch with the majority of its people’. 

Speaking to the Sunday Express about the new channel, he said: ‘I believe our national conversation has become too metropolitan, too southern and too middle-class.

‘Some journalists and commentators seem too confident that their liberal-left assumptions must surely be shared by every sensible person in the land.

‘But many of those same sensible people are fed up. They feel left out and unheard.’