- Fri Jan 16, 2004 7:01 pm
#134621
Robert Kilroy-Silk has agreed to quit as presenter of the BBC's morning talkshow after 17 years just a week after the row blew up over his anti-Arab diatribe in the Sunday Express.
In a carefully worded statement agreed by both sides, Kilroy-Silk said he believed it was the right time to leave the programme and concentrate on other projects but it is clear that he was given no choice by BBC bosses.
After a marathon eight hour meeting with BBC bosses today, the corporation announced that Kilroy-Silk would leave the show but that his TV production company will continue to make the programme with a different host.
But the former MP is set to take on new roles at the BBC after the corporation paid warm tribute to his "authority and style" and called him "a substantial force in the media industry."
Kilroy-Silk said: "I believe this is the right moment to leave the programme and concentrate my energies in other directions. I will continue to lead the Kilroy Television Company Ltd and in addition to our existing commitments to the BBC, we will be bringing new ideas and programmes to the BBC and other broadcasters."
He added that he had been "overwhelmed" by the support from the public, saying: "I continue to believe that it is my right to express my views, however uncomfortable they may be."
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/s ... 57,00.html
In a carefully worded statement agreed by both sides, Kilroy-Silk said he believed it was the right time to leave the programme and concentrate on other projects but it is clear that he was given no choice by BBC bosses.
After a marathon eight hour meeting with BBC bosses today, the corporation announced that Kilroy-Silk would leave the show but that his TV production company will continue to make the programme with a different host.
But the former MP is set to take on new roles at the BBC after the corporation paid warm tribute to his "authority and style" and called him "a substantial force in the media industry."
Kilroy-Silk said: "I believe this is the right moment to leave the programme and concentrate my energies in other directions. I will continue to lead the Kilroy Television Company Ltd and in addition to our existing commitments to the BBC, we will be bringing new ideas and programmes to the BBC and other broadcasters."
He added that he had been "overwhelmed" by the support from the public, saying: "I continue to believe that it is my right to express my views, however uncomfortable they may be."
http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/s ... 57,00.html