A bitter newsroom war is set to explode into public view as former Channel 5 News presenter Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije prepares to face ex-co-anchor Dan Walker at a five-week employment tribunal in London next week.
Vanderpuije, 47, has accused Walker, 49, of sexism, misogyny and bullying, while also bringing claims against ITN, the company behind Channel 5 News, and Paramount, Channel 5’s owner. Walker denies every allegation.
Now, fresh claims suggest the fallout inside the newsroom became so severe that Vanderpuije was allegedly ostracised by colleagues and even banned from entering the newsroom after lodging her complaint in 2024.
According to reports, tensions escalated to the point where ITN chief executive Rachel Corp is said to have barred Vanderpuije from the newsroom. It was also claimed that she later circulated email exchanges to a large number of colleagues after the dispute intensified.
The situation is said to have worsened further when support for her inside the building began to fade. One insider alleged that when Vanderpuije returned to work after being placed on paid leave in February 2024, she was told to go home “as a duty of care to you and others involved”.
The same source claimed that whatever sympathy she may once have had internally was damaged when Dan Walker was specifically named in the tribunal.
An insider said: “Internally he really is regarded as a nice guy. He looks out for other colleagues and for younger staff. He is the antidote to some of the other starry presenters you see on TV. He is the beneficiary of Claudia-Liza being sidelined but it’s a shame really that he has been named in this.”
Vanderpuije’s representative responded by saying: “Claudia-Liza is constrained for legal reasons from saying anything further about her claims until trial when they will be set out by her barrister in full with supporting evidence. She looks forward to responding at that point to any criticisms made of her by the Respondents via the media.”
The legal battle comes after Vanderpuije left Channel 5 in 2024 following more than five years on the news programme, including the final year alongside Walker, who joined the channel in 2023 after leaving BBC Breakfast.
According to one ITN insider, Walker’s arrival changed the balance on screen from the start. The source claimed: “By bringing Dan in, it was clear that she would be number two and not get equal billing. She was automatically being sidelined. It’s a familiar trait in TV news.”
Her lawyer, Jonathan Coad, later issued a statement saying: “Claudia-Liza claims that she was the victim of a sham redundancy 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.”
The statement continued: “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.”
Walker, a married father of three, has strongly denied the claims and is said to have gathered more than 50 character witness statements from footballers, Olympians, BBC journalists, presenters and colleagues.
A source said: “Dan absolutely denies any sexism, misogyny, racism or bullying. It has been hanging over him for some years now. Nobody wants this but he will be there to tell the judge the truth.”
The source added: “There will be tons of witness statements which will talk to Dan’s character. He has been absolutely stunned with the amount of people willing to support him. He has been stunned and actually very upset to be accused of such things.”
In April 2024, Walker was reportedly “completely exonerated” following a workplace investigation into alleged serious misconduct. Sources familiar with that inquiry said there was not enough evidence to support the claims, and none of the complaints against him were upheld.
Walker said at the time: “That was fully investigated and I was entirely vindicated by an independent inquiry.”
But Vanderpuije’s lawyer has pushed back on that version of events, insisting that the internal inquiry “by no means fully investigated Claudia-Liza’s grievance, an issue that will be addressed at the trial”.
With both sides standing firm and the tribunal now looming, the case is shaping up to become one of the most explosive newsroom showdowns in recent memory.
