Dan Wootton

Daniel John William Wootton (born 1983) is a New Zealand and British broadcaster and journalist.

In 2007, he joined the News of the World. In 2013, he joined The Sun on Sunday and became editor of the Bizarre column the following year. In February 2016, he joined The Sun under the editorship of Victoria Newton, as associate editor and, in March 2018, was appointed executive editor. In 2021, Wootton left News UK to join MailOnline as a columnist and to present a show on GB News. His MailOnline column was suspended in early August 2023, after serious allegations were made against him (which he denies), and sacked in September after his GB News interview of Laurence Fox, who made offensive comments about a female journalist. GB News suspended both men. In February 2024, it was announced the Metropolitan police and Police Scotland were to take no action against him after a six-month investigation and, the following month, Wootton left GB News.

Wootton has appeared as a show business presenter on the ITV Breakfast shows Lorraine and Daybreak.

Quotes

• It's increasingly clear now that there is a move among some public health officials and politicians to create an ultra-cautious biosecurity state, copying the likes of China.
  • Comment on Wootton's first programme on GB News during its opening evening, as cited in "GB News: Ofcom will not investigate Dan Wootton’s opening night Covid rant", The Independent (5 July 2021)
  • GB News first broadcasting day was 13 June 2021.

• [I]n Liz we must now Truss.
  • Comment on his GB News show (19 July 2022), as cited in "Truss vs Sunak newspaper endorsements: Right-wing titles get behind Truss" Press Gazette (15 August 2023)
  • Endorsing Liz Truss during the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.

• The globalist remoaner coup continues. The excellent and brave Home Secretary Suella Braverman is being replaced by Grant Shapps. This is an anti-democratic disgrace. Shame on Liz Truss. We backed you to keep them out. They're now in control.
  • Tweet cited in "Jewish leaders slam GB News stars for calling Grant Shapps a 'globalist'" The Jewish Chronicle (20 October 2022)
  • Shapps is Jewish and, briefly, was the first Jewish Home Secretary since the 1990s. The term "globalist" is considered to be "a common antisemitic trope".

• Even though Meghan [Markle] doesn't plan to attend, she wants to cause maximum damage to the royal family.
• This gutless woman has downgraded her criticism to unconscious bias and admitted that the person who she claims to be the royal racist actually wasn't racist at all.
  I think there are many issues with this letter...she still wants to bring down the royal family...[but] she will be unsuccessful.
  • Comments (24 April 2023) on Sky News Australia cited in "'Gutless woman': GB News host Dan Wootton unleashes on Meghan Markle over resurfaced letter to King Charles" Sky News Australia (25 April 2023)
  • The Coronation of Charles III and Camilla was on 6 May 2023.

• These past few days I have been the target of a smear campaign by nefarious players with an axe to grind.
• I, like all fallible human beings, have made errors of judgement in the past. But the criminal allegations being made against me are simply untrue.
  I would like nothing more than to address those spurious claims – I could actually spend the next two hours doing so – but on the advice of my lawyers, I cannot comment further.
  But I have been thinking much over the past few days about the current state of social media, where any allegation can be made in an attempt to get someone cancelled, but it is impossible to defend yourself against thousands of trolls.
• Being in the middle of this witch hunt has made me think a lot about the sort of journalist and broadcaster I aspire to be – one focused on the massive political threats facing this country, not on personal attacks.
  • From a six minute monologue at the beginning of Dan Wootton Tonight (18 July 2023) on GB News, as cited in "Dan Wootton: Ex Sun showbiz editor says he is victim of 'witch hunt' over claims he offered cash for sexual images", The Independent (19 July 2023)

• There are dark forces out to try and take this brilliant channel down. And that's because GB News is the biggest threat to the establishment in decades, and they will stop at nothing to destroy us.
  • Tweet (18 July 2023) from Wootton's monologue posted by GB News, as cited in "Sun and Mail publishers examine claims against journalist Dan Wootton", The Guardian (18 July 2023)

• I want to reiterate my regret over last night’s exchange with Laurence [Fox] on GB News.
  Having looked at the footage, I can see how inappropriate my reaction to his totally unacceptable remarks appears to be and want to be clear that I was in no way amused by the comments.
  I reacted as I did out of shock and surprise in an off guard moment while working out how to respond as he continued to speak by searching for tweets Ava had sent earlier in the day while having them read out in my ear at the same time.
  However, I should have intervened immediately to challenge offensive and misogynistic remarks.
  I apologise unreservedly for what was a very unfortunate lapse in judgement on my part under the intense pressure of a bizarre exchange.
  I know I should have done better. I'm devastated that I let down the team and our supportive GBN family. We seek to tackle the issue and not the person, which I intend to stress again on air tonight.
  • Post on X (formerly Twitter), as cited in "GB News apologises for ‘unacceptable' Laurence Fox comments towards female journalist", ITV News (27 September 2023)
  • During Dan Wootton Tonight the previous evening, Fox launched a misogynistic attack on the journalist Ava Evans political correspondent for the online news site Joe. Wootton was seen laughing at the comments. GB News stated they were "totally unacceptable" and announced it was launching an investigation. Fox and Wootton were both suspended by the broadcaster. Fox was sacked on 4 October.

• You can imagine them freaking out in the gallery!!!!!
  • From a direct message exchange with Laurence Fox (who leaked the messages after his GBN suspension), as cited in "Dan Wootton and Laurence Fox suspended by GB News for Ava Evans comments", The Times (27 September 2023)
  • In UK television usage, a "gallery" is equivalent to a production control room.

About Wootton

• All in all, the spectacle of Dan Wootton begging for nuance and empathy is the heat death of irony. The two crucial things about people like Dan is that they are, without exception, monstrous hypocrites – and they also reduce the world. Their entire business is making human experience smaller. There are about six or seven basic story templates into which they believe all other people's lives must be squeezed, whether or not they want them to be. So to find the high priest of the reductive suddenly asking for an acknowledgment of complexity feels a little much.
• To make it super simple for Dan: GB News is not "anti-establishment". It is a London telly channel owned by a hedge funder and an investment firm. The deputy chairman of the governing Conservative party is one of its presenters, as is a recently knighted former cabinet minister whose father was a long-serving editor of the Times.
  • Marina Hyde "Will 'close pals' rally a)round Dan Wootton as he faces down catfishing allegations? He'd want that, surely", The Guardian (21 July 2023).
  • At this time, Lee Anderson was a deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

• I will not be appearing on Dan Wootton Tonight without Dan Wootton. Dan Wootton had a significant part to play in building GB News.
• He invited me along pre-launch, he also brought so many people onboard. Behind the cameras as well as on-screen talent.
• Including the careerist ambitious ones who are currently gunning for his job. These people are worse than the woke mob, because these vultures are giving the mob ammunition and essentially escalating the channel's demise.
• Standing up for Dan is standing up for the very idea of GB News. If he falls, we all fall.
  • Extracts from comments on X/Twitter by Calvin Robinson "GB News presenter says he will stand by Dan Wootton: If he falls, we all fall", The Independent (29 September 2023)
  • Robinson was suspended by GB News for his comments and sacked on 4 October.