A succession of big names have left the BBC for ITN in recent months – but Washington correspondent Matt Frei, who joins Channel 4 News this month, is probably the biggest.

Shortly after his exit from the BBC was announced, ITN international news editor Bill Neely said the corporation “should be asking themselves some very searching questions about why one of the biggest stars they have in the last 25 years is leaving the corporation”.

If his exit was prompted by any particular slight on the part of the BBC then Frei hid it well during an interview for this month’s edition of Press Gazette magazine.