Emma Barnett is set to leave BBC Radio 4's Today programme after little more than two years in the presenter's chair, it was claimed today. The former Woman's Hour host is expected to front a podcast for BBC Sounds instead.
Today is Radio 4's long-running flagship news and current affairs programme, broadcast on weekday and weekend mornings and known for its high-profile political interviews. Barnett's departure would leave just three anchors on the show: Justin Webb, Nick Robinson and Anna Foster.
Sources said confirmation of Barnett's exit is expected within weeks. A BBC spokesman did not deny the claims when approached by the Daily Mail. A source at the broadcaster said: "Today has a great, fairly new editor, loads of new ideas and vision." The source added: "There's always rumour and speculation about Today and its presenters."
The i Paper reported that Barnett, 41, is "excited to move on to her next challenge," which is expected to be a current affairs podcast on BBC Sounds, the corporation's audio and podcast platform. She has reportedly held "long discussions" with BBC bosses about the move. Barnett already hosts her own weekly podcast, Ready to Talk with Emma Barnett.
A turbulent stint on Today
Barnett's time on Today has been marked by a strained relationship with co-presenter Nick Robinson, a former BBC political editor who has presented the programme since 2015. Last year Barnett complained to former BBC chief executive Deborah Turness, saying she found Robinson "overbearing." It was noted that 90 days passed without the pair presenting together.
On Thursday, Barnett clashed repeatedly with Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who has led the party since November 2024, during an interview about Badenoch's response to Labour's spending review.
Speculation about her exit comes just weeks after Barnett returned to the airwaves following a hysterectomy for endometriosis and adenomyosis. Endometriosis is a condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the womb grows elsewhere in the body, often causing chronic pain, while adenomyosis occurs when that tissue grows into the muscular wall of the uterus. Barnett has written and spoken openly about the debilitating pain caused by her endometriosis diagnosis in recent years.
From LBC to Radio 4
Barnett joined the BBC in 2014, working at Radio 5 Live after three years presenting a show on LBC, a national commercial talk radio station. Between 2016 and 2020 she hosted 5 Live's mid-morning weekday programme, before moving to Woman's Hour, Radio 4's long-running programme covering women's lives and current affairs. She took over as a Today presenter in May 2024.
Rajan's exit and the search for a successor
News of Barnett's rumoured departure comes just days after Amol Rajan, who joined Today in 2021 after previously serving as the BBC's media editor, presented his final episode of the programme before leaving to make his own YouTube show, The Amol Rajan Connection, which is expected to launch within a couple of months.
Last Saturday's edition of Today was fronted by Foster alone, with a rotating cast of correspondents covering in Rajan's absence. A source told the i Paper: "There has to be a new full-time presenter now. And it needs to be someone who is going to stick around. Listeners want stability. Amol and Emma were not here very long, compared with past figures."
The BBC has not yet announced a replacement for Rajan, 43, who is set to appear in the second series of The Celebrity Traitors, a celebrity edition of the BBC reality competition The Traitors, later this year. It was previously said an announcement would be made "in due course."
Among those tipped to join Today are BBC Europe editor Katya Adler and chief political correspondent Henry Zeffman, who filled in over the summer. The broadcaster's political editor, Chris Mason, has also been tipped for a future role on the show, but bosses may want him to remain in his current post in case Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and a prominent Labour figure, calls an early election.
Barnett was contacted for comment.
