Longtime Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce has said he left the paper to slow down and focus on his work at GB News.
Pierce, also a consulting editor, left the Daily Mail in July but did not make a public announcement about his departure at the time.
Daily Mail editor-in-chief Paul Dacre, who hired Pierce for the title 17 years ago, hosted Pierce for a farewell dinner at the Garrick Club last Thursday (30 July) alongside feature writer Richard Kay and literary editor Sandra Parsons.
Earlier the same day the High Court finished hearing legal arguments about costs due to be paid from Prince Harry and his co-claimants towards the £34.5m in costs racked up by Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers defending itself against allegations of unlawful newsgathering.
Dacre had called the judgment in the Daily Mail’s favour “an overwhelming vindication of our journalism”.
Pierce told Press Gazette: “In 47 years in newspapers the Daily Mail and Paul Dacre were the very best I ever worked for.”
Pierce, who is aged 65, said he left the newspaper because he needed to slow down on medical advice, citing a heart condition.
He presents Britain’s Newsroom for GB News from 9.30am to 12pm on Mondays to Thursdays and was then going to the Daily Mail offices and staying often as late as 9pm.
For ten years he was also a panellist on Good Morning Britain on Mondays to Wednesdays, meaning early mornings. He left that role in December due to a scheduling clash with his GB News commitment as the ITV show extended by half an hour.
Pierce said he had a “fantastic innings in print journalism” but decided to concentrate on TV, although he still plans to write.
“GB News is booming. They like me, the programme’s popular, and so that’s where my priority is now. And it’s a wrench to leave the Mail, but I’ve had a good run.”
He has a leaving party scheduled for September.
Pierce started out in journalism on the Gloucestershire Echo and also worked on the Birmingham Mail and local weekly newspaper in East London before moving to The Times, the Daily Express and the Daily Telegraph.
His previous broadcast work includes a BBC 5 Live show and 12 years on LBC.
He also continues to host a weekly podcast with Mirror columnist Kevin Maguire..
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