Dan Walker celebrates first day at 5 News with ratings up 70%

Dan Walker has been celebrating a successful first day in his new job at Channel 5 by boosting viewing figures by 70% of their usual amount.

The former BBC Breakfast host announced earlier this year that he would be quitting after getting a job offer he couldn't refuse from Channel 5, where he will present 5 News bulletins and also front various other non-news programmes.

Walker couldn't have picked a better news day for his first one in the job, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson was the subject of a confidence vote by his party last night, which saw a majority of Conservatives vote in his favour.

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Journalist Walker tweeted photos from his new 5 News studio with co-host Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije and from his reporting post outside 10 Downing Street, referring to the vote and his own success.

He tweeted: "Lots of talk about figures last night… we are quite happy with ours. The @5_News audience was up over 70%. Thanks so much for watching. We’ll see you tonight at 5, on 5."

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Yesterday, Walker began his first day away from the BBC with an interview on former rival breakfast show Good Morning Britain, where he pretended to storm out of the studio in a dig at the programme's ex-host Piers Morgan.

At the end of the interview, he said before walking out: "I’m going to do what they normally do on this programme. Storm off."

He and Morgan had regular Twitter spats over ratings during their time as rivals and Morgan quit GMB in March 2021 after walking out of the studio live on air following a row with colleague Alex Beresford about Meghan Markle.

The controversial broadcaster has since joined Rupert Murdoch's new venture TalkTV with his evening show Piers Morgan Uncensored, although his ratings have been dropping since it launched in May.

After debuting to over 300,000 viewers, the show has plummeted in the ratings with a recent broadcast finishing on only 10,000 viewers.

Watch: Dan Walker 'storms off' Good Morning Britain in dig at old rival Piers Morgan