Katie Hind Uncovers £4m Battle of the Anchors Email

When hired Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije as a newsreader, there was clinking of glasses all round. Not only were the network’s bosses delighted to have poached her from rivals Sky but they were relieved to have made a hire who looked as if she would fill the shoes of hugely experienced , who had decided to leave.

Certainly, too, there was a certain amount of patting of backs among the bigwigs for also being progressive in the choice of their new star. For Claudia-Liza was their first black newsreader and bosses were immensely proud of this fact.

At the time of signing Claudia-Liza in 2018, other channels were very much under the microscope for their perceived lack of diversity.

Indeed, the press office at ITN – the company creates Channel 5’s news output – called to share the news that they had hired Claudia-Liza. They were beyond excited as they regaled to me how wonderful Claudia-Liza was.

Eight years on and her hiring has seriously backfired – not just for ITN and Channel 5 but also for presenter , who was taken on to host the news alongside her in 2022 after he left his role hosting Breakfast. So apparently tumultuous was Claudia-Liza’s time at the channel that she was ousted in 2024. Now she is suing all three parties for sexism, misogyny against a black woman and bullying in the workplace.

All have refused to settle with Claudia-Liza, 47, whose lawyer Jonathan Coad was demanding £4million plus costs for a deal late last week. Their refusal means that the case will now be heard at London’s central tribunal court tomorrow.

Vast sums of money seem to be at stake – at one point Claudia-Liza wanted £13million in reparations.

Claudia-Liza, known as CL to colleagues, has named Dan, 49, as a respondent to her claims, along with ITN and Channel 5’s owner Paramount.

Married father-of-three Dan profusely denies the allegations and has more than 50 character witness statements from famous footballers, Olympians, BBC journalists and presenters, plus other colleagues – more of which later.

Dan, a devout Christian, will be appearing at the hearing as he hopes to clear his name.

‘Dan is feeling strong,’ says a friend. ‘He has been humbled by the support from his colleagues and friends and wants to go to the tribunal so that the truth can come out.

‘None of this has been very nice for him. The strain has been considerable, it has been hanging over him for a long time.’

Details set to be revealed at the tribunal, which is expected to last up to four weeks, have been described as ‘rather juicy’.

Those close to Dan, though, insist that Claudia-Liza’s claims against him are not true.

I can also reveal that at the centre of the fall-out is an email which Dan’s agent sent to the head of Channel 5, Ben Frow. Coad, who has been representing Claudia-Liza for several months and previously represented former This Morning host Phillip Schofield, tells me that the email demands his client is sacked or Dan will leave.

However I’m told that this is ‘untrue’ and that Dan’s close friends and family were deeply concerned about the working conditions he was experiencing.

The note to Frow, they say, was to ask for Channel 5 to get a grip on the situation.

‘At the time of the email, Claudia-Liza hadn’t made an official grievance against Dan but he was struggling with working with her,’ I’m told. ‘Dan has high standards, he wanted to do the very best job possible, that’s in his genetic make-up.

‘But people are different. He desperately wanted it to work and put a lot into it but it was chaotic and things just went really, really wrong. Dan was working in a very unprofessional situation and he is a top pro.

‘He wasn’t prepared to stand for that. So it was made clear that Channel 5 had to step up.

‘Dan had a break clause in his contract but there was never a threat that he would go if Claudia-Liza didn’t. It has all been twisted.’

The tribunal is also expected to hear how after Claudia-Liza lodged her complaint in 2024, the dispute became so heated she was banned from the newsroom by ITN’s chief executive Rachel Corp.

Claudia-Liza then reportedly responded by circulating emails she had exchanged with Corp among her colleagues, which she believed aided her claims.

Regardless, she ultimately lost support from colleagues who have largely remained loyal to Dan. I’m told that she was offered paid leave by ITN while they investigated her complaints and continued a consultation about whether she could be made redundant.

‘When she returned to her desk she was told to go home, “as a duty of care to you and others involved”,’ says a source.

‘She was absolutely furious, she was incandescent with rage. She went on to tell anyone who would listen that she was really badly treated by Channel 5.’ In a statement released by Coad just hours after I revealed in last weekend’s The Mail on Sunday that Dan was facing the tribunal, Claudia-Liza hit back and insisted she was ‘the victim of a sham redundancy’.

Coad wrote that this was ‘because as a whistleblower she made protected disclosures alleging that a toxic culture of racism, sexism, misogyny and bullying existed in the Channel 5 newsroom, and that its editorial content reflected its racist culture.

‘In her claims she alleges that ITN and Channel 5 have tried to cover up the racist culture at Channel 5 News which they have tolerated despite this breaching their statutory obligations’.

It is understood that Claudia-Liza has had a difficult time in the last few years, enduring both bereavement and a divorce.

Insiders at both ITN and Channel 5 are determined to ‘fight Claudia-Liza all the way’.

Managers at both organisations are said to be ‘absolutely furious’ and say they will not be ‘conned’ into paying their former employee the millions she wants.

Still, there’s no doubt the whole episode is deeply embarrassing for Corp, who is also named as a respondent and is understood to be appearing at the tribunal.

She is the chair of Women In Journalism, a pressure group which claims to be ‘empowering, inspiring and supporting’ female journalists.

It adds on its website that its purpose is to ‘support women journalists in the UK to reach their full potential and manage their careers’.

One member of Women In Journalism called me last week to discuss the dissonance between Corp’s public role and the internal accusations against her.

They scoffed: ‘The optics are terrible – you have Rachel, a woman who heads up an organisation which takes money from its members each year to be part of it, sacking a black woman.

‘While she will insist she has done nothing wrong, she is appearing at a tribunal accused of doing everything that Women In Journalism fights and campaigns against. It’s so very embarrassing for her.’

For Dan, married to wife Sarah whom he met when he was studying history at Sheffield University, the tribunal will be covering what is, unfortunately, well-trodden ground. It is understood that he has already faced a workplace probe into ‘serious misconduct’ following Claudia-Liza’s accusations in April 2024, during which he was completely exonerated.

Sources familiar with the inquiry said there was a lack of evidence to support the claims and said former 2021 Strictly Come Dancing contestant Dan co-operated fully.

It is understood none of Claudia-Liza’s accusations were upheld. In 2024, Dan told The Daily Telegraph: ‘I haven’t really talked about it but that was fully investigated and everything was completely incorrect, and I was entirely vindicated by an independent inquiry.

‘So yeah, that’s not nice, but you hold on to what you know the truth is and ultimately the truth is the important thing.’

I’m told that Claudia-Liza’s legal team will question whether the inquiry was carried out with the correct vigour.

Coad, on behalf of Claudia-Liza, will also address the issue of the gender pay gap, complaining that Dan earned more than her for their comparable roles.

However, Dan’s team have always insisted that he has a wider role at Channel 5 than just being a newsreader. Friends of Dan’s say it has been a ‘horrid episode’ – but add that he has been comforted by the support he has received.

Three of his 50 letters of support come from Radio 2 presenter Zoe Ball, Super Bowl winner Osi Umenyiora, with whom Dan hosted the BBC’s American football show in 2020, and his Classic FM colleague Myleene Klass.

Friends of the trio tell me that they were ‘absolutely delighted’ to come forward.

‘Zoe and Dan worked together on Radio 2 way back when,’ says a friend of hers.

‘She adores Dan and is distraught for him, so this is the very least she can do. She has written some beautiful words which will be shared with the tribunal judge this week. It is a wonderful character reference.