VETERAN UK BROADCASTER Kay Burley has announced her retirement from Sky News after 36 years at the channel. 

Burley has been a fixture of Sky News’ journalistic output since the station began in 1988 and she confirmed her departure at the end of her breakfast programme today. 

Closing her show, she said: “After over a million minutes of live TV news, more than anyone else in the world, it’s time for me to indulge in some of my other passions, including my love for travel.

So, after covering 12 separate general elections, including Sir Keir Starmer’s victory last year, I am retiring from Sky News, let politicians of every party just rejoice at that news.

“Thank you for waking up and tuning in every morning. I can’t tell you how much I have appreciated your support over the last three and a half decades – you’re awesome.

“I will post more on my social media and hope to see you around. Please keep in touch.” 

Burley was recruited by Scottish broadcaster Andrew Neil and moved to the fledgling Sky News in the 1980s as one of its founding presenters, covering major stories including the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US.

As well as elections and various major news stories worldwide, Burley has often been associated with the coverage of royal events, such as broadcasting “for days and days”, as she herself said today, outside maternity wards awaiting royal babies. 

In December 2020 she admitted to breaking Covid-19 rules during celebrations for her 60th birthday and, following an internal review, was suspended from her role for six months.

The channel’s political editor Beth Rigby and correspondent Inzamam Rashid were also both taken off air for three months after attending the party.

Burley also leant into the rise of social media as a news dissemination tool, maintaining an active presence online and cultivating an often combative approach to criticism. 

She even gave rise to a meme when she posted a picture of a golden retriever in Paris follwoing the Bataclan terrorist attack with the caption “sadness in his eyes”. 

Sadness in his eyes #parisattacks pic.twitter.com/zzPxLHm1EP

— Kay Burley (@KayBurley) November 15, 2015

In 2023, Ofcom ruled that remarks she made about the Palestinian ambassador “gave a potentially misleading representation” of his views after the watchdog received 1,537 complaints.

Last year, Burley anchored the overnight general election results programme for Sky News which saw Keir Starmer secure the premiership, famously uttering gasps of shock and laughs but no words when the exit poll was revealed.