After it was announced that Piers Morgan had permanently left his position on Good Morning Britain, speculation began almost immediately about whether he’d land a role at the upcoming news organisation GB News.

GB News’ chairman, former BBC journalist Andrew Neil, has now said he’d be “delighted” to discuss a role at the channel with Piers.

Describing Piers’ departure as a “shame” for ITV, Andrew told BBC News: “People tuned in [to GMB] because of him. It reminded me of the old days of Newsnight. People tuned in if Jeremy Paxman was doing it. If he wasn’t doing it it wasn’t so exciting and the same is true of GMB.

“It’s a real problem now for ITV that they’ve lost him. The programme this morning was much more run of the mill, low key, kind of ordinary, so it’s going to be difficult for them to replace him.”

On whether he’d be happy to welcome Piers into the fold at GB News, he continued: “Piers would be a huge asset to GB News and we’ll definitely look at that… we haven’t started any negotiations yet but we would certainly be delighted to talk to him if he’s up for it.”

Asked if Piers would be able to make comments on GB News like those that sparked controversy prior to his GMB departure, Andrew added: “You’ll understand I wouldn’t want to negotiate with Piers Morgan on the airwaves of the BBC.

“All I would say is I wouldn’t really want to simply transfer what he did at GMB onto GB News. But could we find a role for Piers Morgan? Of course we could. Any network worth its salt could find a role for a broadcaster of his calibre.”

GB News is launching later this year, geared towards the “vast number of British people who feel underserved and unheard by their media”.

Presenters confirmed for the news station so far include The Sun columnist Dan Wootton, journalist and political commentator Inaya Folarin Iman and former Brexit Party member Alexandra Phillips. 

Following Monday’s edition of GMB, ITV faced calls to reprimand Piers Morgan, when he cast doubt on Meghan Markle’s recent claims about her mental health and her experiences of racism after joining the Royal Family.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe a word she says,” Piers said. “I wouldn’t believe her if she read me a weather report, and the fact that she’s fired up this onslaught against our royal family, I think is contemptible.”

The following day, he was called out by fellow GMB presenter Alex Beresford over his repeated comments about Meghan Markle, prompting Piers to walk off set.

It was later revealed Piers had sparked more than 40,000 complaints to Ofcom, after which it was announced he was leaving GMB effective immediately. 

He told reporters on Wednesday: “I believe in freedom of speech, I believe in the right to be allowed to have an opinion. If people want to believe Meghan Markle, that’s entirely their right.

“I don’t believe almost anything that comes out of her mouth and I think the damage she’s done to the British monarchy and to the Queen at a time when Prince Philip is lying in hospital is enormous and frankly contemptible.

“If I have to fall on my sword for expressing an honestly-held opinion about Meghan Markle and that diatribe of bilge that she came out with in that interview, so be it.”

Piers later added that he is “always in talks with people”, regarding future employment.