Sir Robbie Gibb, an ex-senior BBC executive and Theresa May’s former director of communications at Downing Street, is reportedly behind the project to raise money for GB News. The new station is due to launch early next year and aims to take advantage of the growing discontent of the BBC.
Sources have described the new 24-hour station as an antidote to the “woke, wet” Corporation.
The new station has already been given a licence by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom.
Another rival project has also been constructed in the headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s media company News UK.
The BBC has faced a series of controversies over its decision last week to perform the songs Land of Hope And Glory and Rule Britannia without their patriotic lyrics at the Last Night Of The Proms.
The TV projects are said to cause a rocky start for the BBC’s new director-general Tim Davie who starts his position on Tuesday.
On Friday, Mr Davie’s predecessor, Lord Tony Hall said the BBC was not a “woke corporation”.
He insisted that the removal of the lyrics at the Last Night Of The Proms was done because it would not have been possible to give the songs justice without an audience at the Royal Albert Hall.
The Government has said that the BBC speaks only to a “pro-Remain metropolitan bubble”.
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Some broadcasters including Julia Hartley-Brewer and Andrew Neil, who had his show axed by the BBC last month, are reportedly being approached to work for both of the new stations.
Another TV source said: “Andrew is due to resume talks with the BBC next week. They need to realise he is not short of options.
“He is in talks with other broadcasters including GB News and News UK.
“Andrew would prefer to stay with the BBC. But the BBC needs to come up with the right offer and the right schedule slot.
“It is all about respect. I don’t think it’s a surprise that he feels that he’s being treated with disrespect.”
Sir Gibb believes the anger towards the BBC has created a gap in the market for “quality journalism”.
He criticised BBC Newsnight’s policy editor, Lewis Goodall, for writing an article for the New Statesman with the headline “Failed, How the Government’s ineptitude created a lost generation”.
He said: “Is there anyone more damaging to the BBC’s reputation for impartiality than Lewis Goodall?”
GB News is set to be run by the company All Perspectives, linked to the American billionaire John Malone.
Andrew Cole, who is one of the co-founders of GB News, has described the BBC as “possibly the most biased propaganda machine in the world”.
