News that Emma Barnett will leave the BBC’s flagship Today programme emerged yesterday, only a day after her combative interview with Kemi Badenoch — a sequence of events that quickly drew attention.
Barnett, 41, has spent two years as a host on the breakfast news programme and is expected to move on to lead a current affairs show of her own. Her departure follows months of reported disruption linked to a fraught working relationship with fellow presenter Nick Robinson.
The former Woman’s Hour presenter was reportedly growing unhappy with what sources described as Robinson’s “overbearing” manner. The pair are said not to have presented an edition together for 90 days.
With insiders indicating that Barnett could exit the BBC Today programme within weeks, fresh scrutiny has fallen on Thursday’s tense exchange with the Conservative leader.
According to reports, unease surrounded the interview before it went to air. Some listeners were surprised that Barnett, rather than Robinson — the BBC’s former political editor — was assigned to question Badenoch.
It remains unclear whether the choice was made by programme editors or came at Barnett’s request, though sources said Robinson had not expected it.
Speaking on the broadcast, Robinson remarked: “When I was told I was doing The Gruffalo this morning, I thought I had got the best item on the programme.”
There was little warmth in the ensuing 10-minute Kemi Badenoch interview. Barnett pressed the Tory leader with a series of pointed questions, while both women repeatedly spoke over each other and accused the other of interrupting.
Emma Barnett, right, is expected to leave the Today programme “within weeks” following reported tensions with co-host Nick Robinson, left, and her turbulent Kemi Badenoch interview.
The 41-year-old presenter, who joined the programme two years ago, is set to take charge of her own current affairs show.
Focusing on welfare v defence spending, the opening question embodied the tone of the exchange, with Ms Barnett asking: ‘Are you willing to make people homeless in the name of national defence?’
After it was over, those on the left applauded the presenter for her no-nonsense approach, while those on the right accused her of having got the tone of the interview completely wrong.
Although seen as a car-crash by some, BBC sources are said to insist Ms Barnett’s departure is completely unrelated and has been planned for some time.
It is understood that in addition to tensions with her co-host, the early mornings took a toll, especially given her recent health struggles with endometriosis.
Having filmed a documentary, Fighting Endometriosis, for BBC Two, she was absent from Today for some time after being rushed to hospital to undergo a hysterectomy and recovering at home for several weeks.
The news of her departure also comes only a week after Amol Rajan presented the programme for the last time.
It’s not a good look for Today, especially given the reports of the relationship between the former Woman’s Hour presenter and Mr Robinson.
The Mail on Sunday previously revealed she had lodged a complaint about the Today Programme veteran, calling him ‘overbearing’, when she joined the show in April 2024.
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Insiders said the matter was resolved with no action taken and there had been no suggestion Nick had done anything wrong.
Sources were keen to present the issue as nothing more than ‘clashing egos’ – but other reports suggested the two fundamentally cannot get on.
Ms Barnett is said to be keen to get started on her ‘next challenge’, understood to be a current affairs programme that has been in ‘long discussions’ with BBC bosses.
She already hosts her own weekly podcast, Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett.
Since joining the BBC, Ms Barnett has made headlines with her tough interview style.
In May 2017, she rose to national attention following a car crash interview with then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, prompting abuse from his supporters.
During the segment in the run-up to the 2017 General Election, Mr Corbyn was left frantically searching his iPad after he was unable to say how much his own party’s pledge to extend free childcare would cost.
The floundering Labour leader was speechless when faced with the question about his flagship policy.
Listeners branded the interview ‘painful’ and ‘excruciating’ on Twitter, while many of his supporters lashed out at Ms Barnett.
Mr Corbyn himself condemned the abuse, telling supporters: ‘It is totally and absolutely completely unacceptable for anyone to throw abuse at anyone else.
‘Journalists do ask difficult questions and journalists do a job that does require asking difficult questions sometimes in difficult circumstances.’
A separate incident in June 2024 saw her condemned for a wider BBC reluctance to call Hamas terrorists, after she described how a 75-year-old grandmother of six was snatched at gunpoint on October 7.
She said: ‘On October 7 last year Ada Sagi’s life changed forever. She was having a morning coffee at home in Nir Oz kibbutz on the border with Gaza, when suddenly several men working for Hamas burst into her home and forced her barefoot by gunpoint onto a motorbike and took her hostage.’
Ms Barnett went on to say that 116 hostages taken by Hamas were still unaccounted for.
The weekly audience for Today now stands at 5.73 million, according to industry figures. While it has declined since the 7.5 million it reached in 2016, its performance is relatively stable.
A source at the BBC said: ‘Today has a great, fairly new editor, with loads of new ideas and vision.
‘There’s always rumour and speculation about Today and its presenters.’