Dan Walker hits out at the BBC and brands the corporation a 'mess' as 'worried former colleagues' contact him amid cuts

Dan Walker has hit out at the BBC after the corporation announced 550 job cuts in news, nations, and TV and radio content as part of the first stage of its plan to save £500million.

Walker, 49, worked at the corporation for over a decade and anchored BBC Breakfast, the UK's biggest breakfast TV show, but quit in 2022 for a new and lucrative job at Channel 5 News.

On Thursday, the presenter made it clear he has no regrets over his decision to leave the channel and slammed the BBC as 'a mess'.

He wrote on social media platform X: 'I've had lots of messages from very worried former colleagues at the BBC.

'The corporation's news operation is respected around the world but for many, this latest announcement about major cuts and job losses feels like the 'managed decline' of a trusted institution and a huge hit to morale.

'The direction of travel is one of the reasons why, whenever I get asked if I miss the BBC, I say that I miss the people and I miss working with my friends. I do not miss the mess.'

Walker hosted Football Focus for 12 years, from 2009 to 2021. He took his seat on the iconic red sofa to host BBC Breakfast from 2016 until 2022.

And it is not the first time Walker has said he made the right decision to leave the BBC.

In June 2023, Walker told the Daily Mail: 'When I left the BBC, 20 per cent of me wondered if I'd made the right decision. Now, looking back over the past 12 months, I'm pretty confident I did.'

The BBC is set to axe Radio 4's The World Tonight after more than half a century as part of the huge cuts.

BBC Breakfast has also been put on the chopping block and will no longer be shown on Sundays from September.

Meanwhile, the production teams making Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg and Newsnight will merge.

New director-general Matt Brittin revealed the scale of the cuts to staff in an email, confirming that more than a quarter of the corporation's planned 1,800 to 2,000 redundancies will come from editorial and broadcasting teams.

The move forms part of the broadcaster's bid to save £500million over the next two years, with around 700 corporate roles also expected to disappear as the corporation embarks on a major restructuring programme.

The BBC reports that an email sent to staff by the interim chief executive officer of BBC News Jonathan Munro has outlined the jobs and programmes impacted, with The World Tonight among the first victims of the planned cuts.

The 45-minute weekday news programme will be axed after 56 years on air, while the presenters on BBC Radio 4's Today show will be reduced from five to four.

Mr Munro said the proposals include 200 job losses in the news division, resulting in savings of £25million, according to the BBC.

Other plans in the announcement include TV production at weekends being shared across the News Channel and BBC One bulletins.

Broadcast TV channels and the radio network portfolio will also be reviewed as audiences move online.

The corporation will also review its chief news presenter roles.

Those roles include Clive Myrie, Ben Brown, Sally Bundock and Geeta Guru-Murthy.

Victoria Derbyshire and Faisal Islam are also chief presenters on Newsnight, while Jon Kay and Sally Nugent are chief presenters on BBC Breakfast.

Around 100 to 150 hours of originated programmes across all commissioning genres will be reduced by the end of the 2027 to 2028 financial year.

The BBC also reported that it plans to reduce between 350 and 400 hours in audio across stations and genres, whilst the News Channel will shift toward an international focus in hopes of broadening its audience outside the UK.

Job cuts will also impact around 700 corporate roles, with those announced in April set to take place over the next three years.

The BBC will also review its portfolio of television channels and radio networks as more viewers and listeners move online, although it has not yet revealed which programmes or services could face the axe.

The corporation hopes that the cuts affecting BBC News, television and radio will contribute around £160million towards its overall savings target.