Radio 4 Today host Mishal Husain to leave BBC

Husain said in a statement that her BBC career had “involved many memorable moments, going to places I would never otherwise have seen, witnessing history and being part of live, national conversation on Radio 4”.

She added: “I will always be grateful for the opportunities the BBC gave me, and wish the organisation and everyone who is part of it the very best.”

Owenna Griffiths, editor of the Today programme, described Husain as “not only a formidable journalist and first-rate presenter” but also “an extremely generous and thoughtful colleague”.

“It has been my great privilege to work alongside her and, along with the Today team, I’ll miss her enormously but wish her all the very best in her new venture,” she said.

Husain is one of five presenters on the Today programme’s current roster, alongside Justin Webb, Nick Robinson, Emma Barnett and Amol Rajan.

She earned between £340,000 and £344,999 in the last financial year for about 140 shifts presenting Today, 20 days reading the news on BBC One, plus Today’s debates and other projects.

In a statement issued by her new employer, she said: “I am delighted to be fronting a new interview show that will reach audiences in different formats as part of the exciting plans for Bloomberg Weekend Edition.

“Ours is an ever more complex world but the desire for thoughtful conversations crosses all borders. I look forward to working with a new team at Bloomberg – the place which gave me my first job in journalism.”

Husain began her journalism career at Bloomberg Television in the 1990s before joining the BBC.

Earlier this year, the British presenter’s book, Broken Threads: My Family From Empire to Independence, became a Sunday Times bestseller.

The Guardian said it saw her weave “a tender tapestry with the stories of her four grandparents in the new state of Pakistan”.