Former UK PM Boris Johnson takes new role as a news broadcaster

LONDON: Former British prime minister Boris Johnson said on Friday he would join television station GB News, adding another media role to his job as a columnist for the Daily Mail newspaper.

"I'm going to be giving this remarkable new TV channel my unvarnished views on everything from Russia to China, the war in Ukraine, how we meet all those challenges, to the huge opportunities that lie ahead for us," Johnson said on X.

GB News said Johnson would work as a presenter, programme maker and commentator starting in early 2024 and would play a key role covering Britain's next national election, which is expected next year, as well as elections in the United States.

The TV channel launched in 2021 with a mix of news, opinion and analysis that is more similar to U.S. networks such as Fox News than other British broadcasters. Britain's broadcasting watchdog has ruled the station breached impartiality rules on various occasions.

Johnson, who was the main political leader behind the movement to take Britain out of the European Union, became prime minister in 2019 and won a large majority in an election later that year.

But he resigned in 2022 after a string of scandals which cost him the support of many Conservative Party lawmakers. Johnson, who worked as a journalist before entering politics, began writing columns for the Daily Mail in June.