Different agendas

Who made the call to end Alex Phillips' time as a presenter at GB News ?

Back in April, Stuart McGurk at The New Statesman, took a long look at the station, particularly the strategies of CEO Angelos Frangopoulos.  

"...it is Frangopoulos’ perceived preferential treatment of presenter Alex Phillips, I’m told, that has cost him most credibility in the newsroom. Phillips would tell colleagues that he had said she was the star of the station, and she often complained about her salary. “It would drive McCoy [her co-host] mad,” I’m told. But in August, Phillips was given her own show and told colleagues that her pay had been doubled to around £140,000. Her team found out about the pay rise on 7 August, when she took them for drinks at the Heist Bank bar across the road to celebrate. Phillips generously took care of the bill, saying, “Well, bitches, I’ve had my salary doubled, so this is on me!” (GB News denied this account, saying: “We cannot comment on details of individual staff salaries.”)

But Phillips’ team members were astonished. “I’ve never heard of someone having their salary doubled,” said one. Other female presenters were similarly incredulous. A small number set up a WhatsApp group specifically to discuss consulting a lawyer about a discrimination claim; several had wanted their own shows, while others had been promised salary reviews.

The story that most sticks in the minds of multiple people I spoke to, however, concerns an episode on 6 September, when Phillips suspected people were stealing, incongruously, her orange squash from the fridge. Standing by the live desk, miked up and about to go on air, Phillips reportedly shouted, “Which c*** has had my squash?” Frangopoulos appeared by her side almost instantly, I’m told, before running to a Marks & Spencer to buy a new bottle, delivering a glass to Phillips during an ad break.

(GB News disputed the language used but not the sequence of events, saying: “Alex Phillips is a popular and highly respected member of the GB News family and we have never known her to act unprofessionally in any way.”)