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Neil is known as one of the fiercest political interviewers on the BBC.
Announcer Andrew Neil paid tribute to the BBC after announcing that he will be leaving after 25 years.
The 71-year-old journalist will become president of the new television channel GB News, which will launch early next year.
He said he was leaving the BBC, where he has hosted shows like Daily Politics and helped spearhead its election coverage, with “a heavy heart.”
The BBC said it had “informed and entertained millions of viewers” over the years.
Neil’s last BBC appearance will be in early November, when he will help lead its coverage of the US presidential election.
The former editor of the Sunday Times has been at the center of the BBC’s political coverage for most of three decades.
In addition to hosting Daily Politics and its successor Politics Live, he was the host of the popular late-night talk show This Week for many years.
- Andrew Neil Show Ends As BBC News Reveals Cuts
His penetrating and often combative general election interviews with party leaders earned him great critical acclaim.
He was involved in a dispute with Downing Street before last year’s election when he publicly challenged Boris Johnson on air to appear on his show, saying his absence from the screens represented a “matter of trust.”
The prime minister was the only one of the party’s top leaders who was not questioned by Neil.
Earlier this year, the BBC said the weekly Andrew Neil Interview show, which had run since 2019, would not be brought back into service, but was in discussions with him about other formats.
In announcing his departure, Neil said that these discussions had not materialized and that he had decided to take over as president of GB News, where he will also host a daily program.
“With great regret I announce that I will leave the BBC”, wrote on Twitter.
“Despite excellent efforts by the new CEO (CEO) to find other programming opportunities, he was unable to repair the damage caused when the Andrew Neil Show canceled early in the summer.”
He thanked everyone who had helped him during his time at the BBC, describing them as “the best of the best” and saying that the corporation “will always be special to me.”
In a statement, the BBC said it would like to heartily thank Neil, describing him as a “formidable and talented broadcaster.”
“For years, he was at the heart of the irreverent and much-loved This Week and played a key role in the Daily and Sunday Politics, Politics Live and the BBC’s general election coverage,” he said.
“We regret that the US election coverage is his last BBC presentation for the foreseeable future, but he will always be welcomed on the BBC.”
GB News is a new 24-hour news channel that will compete with BBC, ITV and Sky News. Its financial backers include American media giant Discovery.
BBC media editor Amol Rajan said its launch and Neil’s signing were a “great moment for British culture.”
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