Ian King: The people and events that defined my 11 years at Sky News
It’s 6.25pm on Monday 2 June 2014 and my heart is racing.
After 20 years as a national newspaper journalist, plus a few years of working in the City before that, I am about to learn whether I can cut it as a television presenter.
I’d done plenty of broadcast journalism over the years – for BBC Radio Five Live’s Weekend Business and Wake Up To Money, BBC Radio Four’s Today programme and regular appearances on Sky News – but these were as a guest pundit or, in media jargon, what is known as the “presenter’s friend”.
This was different. Sky News had entrusted me to step into the sizeable shoes of Jeff Randall, its influential business presenter from September 2007 to March 2014.
After four or five rehearsals using Jeff’s old scripts, under the tutelage of experienced director Neil Hunter and with colleagues Dafydd Rees, Katie Mandel and Hannah Capella acting as guests, I was deemed ready.
Broadcasting from Sky’s original City Studio, on the 15th floor of the iconic Gherkin building on St Mary Axe, I awaited Neil’s cue before uttering the introductory words:
Ian King Live was first broadcast from the Gherkin building in the City of London
“From the heart of the City, this is Ian King Live.”
That first half hour show whizzed by: our guests were Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of power generator Drax; Clive Efford, the shadow minister for sport; and Lily Cole, the model and actress. Not bad on a slow news day although during the programme, overseen by my first producer Peter Hoskins, we also broke news that Frank Lampard would be leaving Chelsea.
The adrenalin was still pumping after the show but abated somewhat after John McAndrew, then executive editor and director of content at Sky News, called to declare it “a bloody brilliant start”.
Other guests that week included Andy Griffiths, UK chief executive of Samsung; Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor; Sir Tom Hunter, the billionaire entrepreneur and Tom Crotty, director at the chemicals giant Ineos.
Sir Terry Leahy was among the early guests on Ian King Live
The following week our guests included Sir Terry Leahy, the former Tesco chief executive, giving his first public comments on the accounting black hole recently disclosed by the supermarket; Paul Pester, the TSB chief executive, giving his first broadcast interview ahead of the bank’s stock market flotation; Keith Cochrane, chief executive of the FTSE 100 engineer Weir Group; Justin King, in his final broadcast interview as chief executive of Sainsbury’s and James Quincey, then head of Coca-Cola’s European business but now its global chairman and chief executive. We were up and running.
Now, some 11 years on and after more than 2,000 editions of Ian King Live (the show was rechristened Business Live with Ian King at the end of June 2023), Sky News and I are parting company.
Ian often took his show on the road, broadcasting from trading floors to farms and fishing ports. Pic: Martin Kimber
The worlds of business, markets and economics have changed immeasurably in that time. In April 2014, when I joined Sky News, Walmart was the world’s biggest company. It is now only the 15th largest in the S&P 500 – dwarfed by tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Nvidia. Reflecting that increase in importance, US companies now make up around 65% of global stock market capitalisation, compared with just 52% then.
Mark Carney was governor of the Bank of England, David Cameron was prime minister and George Osborne was chancellor; in the US, Barack Obama was president; Jack Lew was US Treasury secretary and Janet Yellen was chair of the Federal Reserve. It all seems such a long time ago now.
The central bank chief with the hardest role back in April 2014, though, was Mario Draghi at the European Central Bank.
Although Ireland and Portugal were about to exit the bailout packages they received at the height of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, there was still a sense that the fire had not quite been extinguished, which was why the ECB’s main policy rate was still zero. The Bank of England and the Fed still had interest rates at close to zero, too, with the latter becoming the first major global central bank to tighten monetary policy in December 2015.
So there was a real sense of crisis still in the air and, over the subsequent decade and a bit, very little has changed. The 2016 Brexit referendum led to some spectacular gyrations in the value of UK equities, bonds and the pound: the day after I did my first live broadcast – from the trading floor at Monex, a stone’s throw from the Bank of England – at 5.30am and was still broadcasting 11 hours later.
Mark Carney, now Canada’s prime minister, was at the helm of the Bank of England ahead of, and after, the EU referendum in 2016
A few months later, Donald Trump was elected for the first time, with markets rattled by his instigation of a trade war with China soon afterwards.
Then, in 2020, came COVID and, for a few months, it felt as if I was never off the air, bringing news first of the market turmoil that accompanied the lockdowns and then, later, the financial responses to the pandemic from governments, central banks and businesses alike.
By then, having relocated initially to the ‘Baby Shard’ in 2017, Sky’s City Studio had moved again, this time to Fleet Place, close to the Old Bailey. Everyone will have their own memories of lockdown, suffice it to say, going into a deserted City every day was a weird and depressing experience. Not as depressing, though, as interviewing distraught business owners weeping at what the lockdowns were doing to their livelihoods and those of their employees.
Some people, even some in the media industry, disparage business news as being somehow distanced from the human condition. They do not know what they are talking about.
Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s boss. Pic: Reuters
The post-COVID bounce back in late 2021 and early 2022 was great fun to report on. Animal spirits, especially in the US, were back. But then, in September 2022, came Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget and the eventual departure of both him and Liz Truss.
The latter, incidentally, was one of the more surprising interviews I did at Sky News.
While in the post of justice secretary, she appeared on the programme on the evening of Philip Hammond’s autumn statement in November 2016 and, in response to one particularly tricky question on the public finances, replied: “I don’t know.”
That episode serves to remind just how many changes of personnel we have had during the last 11 years. Past and present chancellors I interviewed at Sky News included Nigel Lawson, Norman Lamont, Ken Clarke, Philip Hammond and Rachel Reeves.
The Bank of England has proved rather more stable although I still interviewed three governors past and present: Lord King, Mark Carney and Andrew Bailey.
Companies too have undergone frequent changes of leadership. During the last 11 years I have interviewed three different chief executives of Tesco, Sainsbury’s and BP, two each from – to name a few – Rio Tinto, Centrica, Land Securities, Lloyds Banking Group, Marks & Spencer, GlaxoSmithKline, BAE Systems, National Grid, British Airways, John Lewis Partnership, Prudential, easyJet, Greggs and RBS/NatWest.
Few have had the same chief executive for the entire period but two CEOs who have remained in place throughout are easily among the most outstanding of their generation. One is Sir Pascal Soriot, the French genius who helped AstraZeneca stave off an unwanted takeover bid from Pfizer, before building the drugmaker into the UK’s most valuable company.
The other is Michael O’Leary of Ryanair, a man with a rare talent for judging customer demand and for ruthlessly exploiting gaps in the market, even though some may cavil at his communications style.
And now, sadly, it is over.
Thank you to the thousands of guests who submitted themselves to interview over the years and to colleagues past and present. While the presenter is the only person the viewers see on air, TV is a huge team effort, with producers, directors, runners, lighting and sound technicians and make-up artists all contributing.
Above all, thank you to Sky News viewers from around the world and especially those who would get in touch with feedback. It has been a pleasure and a privilege appearing on screens on your laptops, mobile devices, trading floors, gyms, hotels and, even now, living rooms.
President Trump says he is firing a governor of the US central bank, a move seen as intensifying his bid for control over the setting of interest rates.
He posted a letter on his Truth Social platform on Monday night declaring that Lisa Cook – the first black woman to be appointed a Federal Reserve governor – was to be removed from her post on alleged mortgage fraud grounds.
She has responded, insisting he has no authority over her job and vowed to continue in the role, threatening a legal battle that could potentially go all the way to the Supreme Court.
Money latest: ‘RAC left me stranded on a busy motorway for four hours – then gave me £8’
The president‘s threat is significant as he has consistently demanded that the central bank cut interest rates to help boost the US economy. Growth has sagged since he returned to office on the back of US trade war gloom and hiring has slowed sharply in more recent months.
Mr Trump has previously directed his ire over rates at Jay Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, blaming him for the economic jitters and has repeatedly called for him to be fired.
The Fed, as it is known, has long been considered an institution independent from politics and question marks over that independence has previously shaken financial markets.
The dollar was hit overnight while US futures indicate a negative opening for stock markets.
Mr Powell’s term is due to end next spring and the president is expected to soon nominate his replacement.
Fed chair Jay Powell is seen in discussion with board member Lisa Cook. Pic: AP
The Fed has 12 people with a right to vote on monetary policy, which includes the setting of interest rates and some regulatory powers.
Those 12 include the seven members of the Board of Governors, of which Ms Cook is one.
Replacing her would give Trump appointees a 4-3 majority on the board.
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July: Fed chair has ‘done a bad job’, says Trump
He has previously said he would only appoint Fed officials who support lower borrowing costs.
Ms Cook was appointed to the Fed’s board by then-president Joe Biden in 2022 and is the first black woman to serve as a governor.
Her nomination was opposed by most Senate Republicans at the time and was only approved, on a 50-50 vote, with the tie broken by then-vice president Kamala Harris.
It was alleged last week by a Trump appointed regulator that Ms Cook had claimed two primary residences in 2021 to get better mortgage terms.
Mortgage rates are often higher on second homes or those purchased to rent.
She responded to the president’s letter: “President Trump purported to fire me ‘for cause’ when no cause exists under the law, and he has no authority to do so,” she said in an emailed statement.
“I will not resign.”
Legal experts said it was for the White House to argue its case.
But Lev Menand, a law professor at Columbia law school, said of the situation: “This is a procedurally invalid removal under the statute.
“This is not someone convicted of a crime. This is not someone who is not carrying out their duties.”
The Fed was yet to comment.
It has held off from interest rate cuts this year, largely over fears that the president’s trade war will result in a surge of inflation due to higher import duties being passed on in the world’s largest economy.
However, Mr Powell hinted last week that a cut could now be justified due to risks of rising unemployment.
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