Huw Edwards seen at rival news Global's HQ amid weighing up options

Got some news you’d like to share? BBC star Huw Edwards is seen at rival news giant Global’s HQ and says: I’m weighing up my options

• BBC star was spotted entering the offices of its biggest radio rival on Wednesday
• He said he’s been ‘thinking about my future’ both ‘inside and outside the BBC’
• Global has poached a string of BBC news stars in recent months like Emily Maitlis

Huw Edwards could be the next big news star to quit the BBC after he was spotted entering the offices of its biggest radio rival.

Asked last night about his visit to Global, the News At Ten presenter said he had been ‘thinking about my future’ and was ‘considering several options both inside and outside the BBC’.

Global, which owns stations including LBC and Classic FM, has poached a string of BBC news stars in recent months.

Veteran broadcaster Andrew Marr, former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis and former BBC North America editor Jon Sopel have all signed lucrative deals with the commercial broadcaster.

On Wednesday at around 6pm, Edwards, 61, was pictured entering Global’s offices in Leicester Square, central London, through a smaller back entrance in Charing Cross Road

These high-profile signings – which also included former Newsnight policy editor Lewis Goodall – have fuelled a debate about whether the BBC is suffering a brain drain of top talent. On Wednesday at around 6pm, Edwards, 61, was pictured entering Global’s offices in Leicester Square, central London, through a smaller back entrance in Charing Cross Road.

Dressed in a blue jumper and jeans, he was carrying a bag and a bottle of water as he entered.

When contacted about his visit, the Welsh presenter told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s no secret that I’ve been thinking about my future – it’s been public for some time.

‘Not unusually, I’ve been considering several options both inside and outside the BBC. I don’t want to say more than that.’

Insiders admitted they were surprised that his visit to Global was not conducted more discreetly, or that if he was in talks they had not been at a neutral venue.

In recent months Edwards, who last year earned up to £414,999 at the BBC, has been dropping hints that he is likely to depart News At Ten early next year.

In August last year he admitted he was considering his future on the 10pm bulletin, saying the ‘nightly news business’ could be ‘taxing’ and that he did not think he would be ‘doing that for long’.

He told Radio Cymru it was also ‘fair’ for ‘viewers to get a change’ and give his co-workers a chance.

In a documentary for the Welsh broadcaster S4C at the end of last year, he said that by January 2023 he would have done ‘20 years as the face of the News At Ten’ and that this was a ‘milestone’ he would like to reach. Last year it was reported that Edwards had been in talks to replace Piers Morgan on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

In recent months Edwards, who last year earned up to £414,999 at the BBC, has been dropping hints that he is likely to depart News At Ten early next year

In recent months the presenter has also drawn attention to himself through lucrative speaking engagements, which have to be declared by BBC news stars.

It was revealed in May that Edwards had raked in at least £25,000 on top of his BBC salary in just one month from work outside the corporation. Stars who have quit the BBC to join Global, which bills itself as ‘Europe’s largest radio company’, are thought to have increased their pay significantly.

Miss Maitlis and Sopel have just launched a new podcast for Global called The News Agents, with Goodall on their team.

Marr, who had fronted BBC1’s prestigious Sunday morning political interview show, presents his own 6pm programme on LBC from Monday to Thursday.

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