TalkTV journalist Kate McCann believes political journalism has had a “rough” few years – but that’s partly why it was a good time for the new channel to “start from scratch”.

McCann, who joined the channel as political editor after almost four years as Sky News political correspondent, said many journalists both on-screen and behind the scenes had “jumped ship from a really good job” to join the News UK venture because they were “prepared to take a risk”.

Speaking to Press Gazette days before launch, McCann said she was looking forward to the fact they could “rip up all the rules and start again”.