Back in 2006, YouGov’s co-founder Stephan Shakespeare and ConservativeHome founder Tim Montgomerie (now of this parish) conceived an idea to start a political TV channel on the internet, with a decidedly right-of-centre tinge. This was in the days before smartphones, and people routinely watching live or pre-recorded video on their laptops. YouTube was in its infancy.
The pair approached me to be their lead presenter on the channel, with Donal Blaney joining the team also. Stephan had bought a Georgian townhouse in Doughty Street, in Bloomsbury, from where we intended to broadcast live each evening. While we were broadcasting, the whole house was being renovated. It was a building site. Looking back, the whole enterprise was ten years ahead of its time, but it only lasted a year.
