ANDREW Neil has rung in the New Year by provoking a public spat with his former colleagues at GB News.
Neil, who resigned from the channel after a matter of months despite being its founding chairman, sparked the argument with a snide tweet after the bells.
The former BBC interviewer wrote on Twitter: “Sky News coverage of new year so bad you can only conclude it’s been infiltrated by GB News.”
READ MORE: Andrew Neil accuses GB News of 'smears and lies' as he quits for good
Neil later explained that he had been annoyed by Sky News failing to broadcast Big Ben’s bongs live. He called it a “shambles”, saying that to see the famous bell ring live had been “all I wanted”.
His jab at GB News did not go unnoticed however, with several of his former colleagues at the channel hitting back.
GB News presenter Dan Wootton replied with a gif of Sacha Baron Cohen’s Ali G character yawning and saying the word “boring”.
— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) January 1, 2022
Another of the channel’s presenters, Nana Akua, told Neil to “move on”. “We all have,” she added.
Alex Phillips, who presented a show on the channel alongside Simon McCoy, wrote: “The first sighting in 2022 of Arrogans Maximus Rufus Muta in its natural Twitter habitat, feeding off Claret as it lollops towards extinction.”
She added an emoji of a gorilla to the end of her tweet.
The first sighting in 2022 of Arrogans Maximus Rufus Muta in its natural Twitter habitat, feeding off Claret as it lollops towards extinction 🦍 https://t.co/KXWvS9WlPx
— Alex Phillips (@ThatAlexWoman) January 1, 2022
Commenting on Neil’s attack on GB News, Byline Times founder Peter Jukes wrote: “Hogmanay with a saucer of milk - miaow.”
Neil left the channel after having a spat with bosses about the amount of control he was allowed to have over GB News output.
The former BBC host also criticised the channel for becoming a "Ukip tribute band".
He told the Daily Mail that the fall-out had left him so angry that he could not even bring himself to say the name of the channel’s boss, Angelos Frangopoulos.
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