Paul Brand is set to take over from Julie Etchingham as the new presenter of Tonight from April, it has been confirmed.
Currently ITV News UK Editor, Brand will keep this role as well as taking over as lead presenter of the weekly current affairs programme from April 2022.
It comes after presenter Julie Etchingham decided to step down from the role at the start of the year in order to concentrate fully on her role on ITV News At Ten and other projects.
Brand said of the role: ‘To present a show previously fronted by two titans of broadcasting – Julie Etchingham and Sir Trevor McDonald – is a huge honour.
‘Having reported for the Tonight programme in the past, I have already had the pleasure of working with many of the enormously talented team behind Britain’s most-watched weekly current affairs programme.
‘I am delighted to be making this a weekly commitment, alongside my role as UK Editor for ITV News.’
He added: ‘At a time when the world often feels as if it is in a perpetual state of crisis, Tonight will continue to play a vital role in exploring and explaining the events around us.’
Brand had previously been speculated to replace Laura Kuenssberg as BBC political editor after she announced she was stepping down from the role in December 2021, and he plans to take on further presenting roles which are yet to be announced.
His recent exclusives include the video of Downing Street staff laughing about a Christmas party during the Covid-19 lockdown, and has previously led an investigation for Tonight, with Searching for Patient Zero: Britain’s Aids Tragedy, which solved the forty-year mystery of John Eaddie, the first recorded person to die of Aids in the UK.
As well as his television work, Brand also hosts a podcast called Acting Prime Minister, speaking to guests from across the political spectrum, and is co-founder of the LGBT+ campaign, School Diversity Week.
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