Emily Maitlis has named Clive Myrie as her desired replacement on Newsnight.
The presenter announced she was leaving the BBC current affairs show after 20 years with the broadcaster to join Global radio in February.
BBC News anchor Clive – who fronted coverage of the war in Ukraine from Kyiv following Vladimir Putin’s invasion – has emerged as a frontrunner to take over from her in recent weeks.
This has now been endorsed by Emily, who told Radio Times: “I just think Clive’s terrific. I think he’s done so well. And I’m sure the team would give him a really, really warm welcome because they are the best in the business.
“And it’s the loveliest - it’s the loveliest [of] gangs, loveliest group of people. So I hope for his sake he gets it, too.”
Emily’s move away from the BBC will see her hosting a new daily podcast with fellow BBC journalist Jon Sopel, who is also departing the corporation after serving as North America editor, for Global.
The pair said it would “build on everything we’ve achieved” with the BBC Sounds podcast Americast over the last few years.
Emily, who served as the lead host of Newsnight since the departure of Evan Davis in 2018, described it as a “wrench” to leave the BBC after a “phenomenal” two decades.
In an update on Twitter, Emily said: “I am so grateful for the opportunities I’ve had there. More than anything I’m grateful to have worked with the most incredible people - many of whom are dear friends. I owe my BBC colleagues everything.”
Her tenure on Newsnight made headlines on a number of occasions, most notably with her monologue on Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle during the first national Covid lockdown in 2020, in which she claimed he “broke the rules”.
The BBC later ruled hat Emily had breached their impartiality guidelines with the opener.
This divided opinion on social media at the time, with Piers Morgan one of those defending Emily, suggesting she’d been thrown “under the bus” by her employers.
Emily was previously reprimanded by her BBC bosses after sharing a tweet from the former Good Morning Britain host, in which he asked what the punishment was for “failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?”