13 times departing Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis made our day so much better
No doubting the biggest media story of the day, Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel’s departure from the BBC to present a new show on LBC and a podcast for the radio station’s owner, Global.
It’s quite the coup for Global and an even bigger blow for the BBC. Here’s what Maitlis said about it on Twitter.
Some work news – @BBCJonSopel and I are going to launch a brand new podcast with @Global, exec produced by @dinosofos. It’s an amazing opportunity to do something we all love, and we are so thrilled Global is giving us this opportunity to be big and ambitious with this project.
— emily m (@maitlis) February 22, 2022
Nevertheless, it will be a wrench to leave the BBC after 20 phenomenal years. 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.
— emily m (@maitlis) February 22, 2022
And here’s what another former Newsnight presenter (and Maitlis’s new Global colleague) James O’Brien made of it.
Wonderful for us but also, I hope, a wake-up call to BBC bosses: you don’t respond to bullying from Downing Street & attacks from the Daily Mail by hanging your talent out to dry. https://t.co/OoUBo7c8dr
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) February 22, 2022
And it made us think of all the times Maitlis made our day better, whether she was presenting Newsnight, on Twitter, or taking part in newspaper Q&As.
Here are 13 of the very best.
1. When she explained just why the Boris Johnson flat refurbishment row matters
Emily Maitlis succinctly explaining…
Why. It. Matters#Newsnight pic.twitter.com/D51IXi0URy
— David (@Zero_4) April 28, 2021
2. When – or rather, how – she apologised for sharing Rory Stewart’s tweet about Nadine Dorries (by sharing it again)
3. When she nailed the whole Dominic Cummings saga in 20 seconds flat
‘He made those who struggled to keep to the rules feel like fools and has allowed many more to assume they can now flout them. The prime minister knows all this and has chosen to ignore it.’
Savage brilliance from @maitlis #newsnight pic.twitter.com/1tX879ICqZ
— Jonathan Lis (@jonlis1) May 26, 2020
4. When she killed Jacob Rees-Mogg (not literally)
Emily Maitlis: “You didn’t say well I’m not quite sure – you said it would turn the UK into a slave state and then you consider voting for it!”
Emily Matilis grills Jacob Rees-Mogg on the language he has used around the Govts withdrawal agreement.#newsnight | @Jacob_Rees_Mogg pic.twitter.com/qKex1O7PrY
— BBC Newsnight (@BBCNewsnight) March 28, 2019
5. When she comprehensively owned this Brexit Party MEP
.@maitlis to Brexit Party MEP,
Brian Monteith: “You take the salary from a place you despise, that you don’t want to be a part of, that you can’t behave in… You’re a member of the Brexit Party of England, an MEP of a parliament you don’t want to sit in, living in France?” pic.twitter.com/CpaGUBaE7B— Damon Evans (@damocrat) July 2, 2019
6. When she simply couldn’t take any more politicians’ BS
The reaction of @maitlis to @BarryGardiner’s waffle on #Newsnight is EVERYTHING TO ME RN.
I bet she’s writing “COCK” over and over again. The side-eye at the end. That is MY SIDE-EYE every time he is on. pic.twitter.com/mjVmBZHqjZ
— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 12, 2019
7. When she paid this tribute to children’s author, Judith Kerr
