Tony Livesey #

Introduction #

Tony Livesey is a British journalist and broadcaster from Burnley, Lancashire, who spent 16 years at BBC Radio 5 Live, most recently presenting a topical late-night interview and phone-in programme four nights a week. On 9 June 2026 he stepped back from his show after a joint investigation by the BBC’s Panorama and the Times into his former newspaper boss, the billionaire West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan, raised an allegation that Livesey had arranged a 1999 meeting between Sullivan and a young woman who went on to describe an unwanted sexual encounter with Sullivan at that meeting. On 3 August 2026 the BBC announced that Livesey, 62, had left the broadcaster entirely. Livesey denies the allegation naming him, and Sullivan denies the allegations against him.

Background Information #

Anthony Livesey was born on 11 January 1964 in Burnley, Lancashire, and started out in local newspapers with the Nelson Leader before stints at the Gulf News in Dubai and the Lancashire Evening Telegraph. His mother died aged 44, when he was 13, an experience he later explored in award-winning radio reporting. He spent 18 years with Sport Newspapers, rising to editor-in-chief and managing director of the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport, and recounted the era in his 1998 book Babes, Booze, Orgies and Aliens. On leaving the papers in 2006 he joined the BBC, presenting on BBC Radio Lancashire before moving to 5 Live in 2010, where he fronted the late-night show, Weekend Breakfast and then the Drive programme, alongside TV appearances including Have I Got News for You and a year as culture reporter on The One Show.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

The joint Times and BBC Panorama investigation reported allegations from seven women against David Sullivan, spanning decades from the 1980s. All came from women who were in their late teens or early twenties, young models seeking work at Sullivan’s Daily and Sunday Sport newspapers, and they accused him of sexually exploitative and predatory behaviour, including pressuring them for sex during business meetings by offering to boost their careers. Sullivan, 77, denied the allegations, saying through his lawyers: “I categorically deny all of these complaints.”

The investigation also aired questions for Livesey, who had been the titles’ editor-in-chief: one alleged victim said Livesey had arranged a meeting between her and Sullivan in 1999. The woman alleged she was taken to the Sport offices in Manchester, where she was introduced to Livesey, then the editor, and said he then called Sullivan to set up a meeting, at which she described an unwanted sexual encounter with Sullivan. Livesey said he had “no recollection” of introducing the young woman to Sullivan and that it was “not part” of his job to do so, adding that he had had “practically zero” contact with anyone appearing in the paper, such as female models. He said he had “great sympathy for a woman who may have become a victim” but rejected any suggestion that he had played “any role whatsoever in that scenario” and said he found the allegation “abhorrent”.

The programme also examined the Sport’s “Countdown to 16” feature, which teased readers with photos of partially clothed schoolgirls before publishing topless photos on their 16th birthdays, then the legal minimum age for topless modelling. A passage in Livesey’s 1998 book said he and Sullivan had devised the feature; Livesey has since said it was “categorically” not his idea and that large parts of the book were “fictionalised” to make it appear he “was at the centre of all stories”.

Public Reaction and Consequences #

When the allegations first emerged, Livesey asked to step back from his 5 Live show while the issues raised by the investigation were examined, the BBC said. A BBC spokesman stated: “The Panorama investigation included allegations about Tony Livesey which we take seriously. We also note Tony has firmly denied the allegations.” Sullivan, who had announced his resignation as a director and co-chair of West Ham United on 6 June, before the investigation’s publication, called the allegations “factually incorrect and entirely false” and the result of a “fundamentally unfair” investigation. On 3 August 2026, 5 Live controller Heidi Dawson told staff that Livesey had decided to leave, passing on his “heartfelt thanks to the brilliant colleagues at 5 Live who he has had the pleasure of working with over the years” and saying the station wished him well. The BBC did not comment on the conclusions of its investigation into the issues raised by Panorama.

Current Status #

Livesey has left the BBC entirely after 16 years at 5 Live, with the corporation announcing his departure on 3 August 2026. He has not been charged with any offence; the coverage describes his exit as his own decision, taken after the joint investigation raised multiple allegations against his former boss and a single allegation naming Livesey himself, which he denies. His future plans have not been announced. Sullivan continues to deny all the complaints against him, and the BBC has not published the conclusions of its examination of the matters Panorama raised.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

The allegations ended a 16-year BBC career that the station’s own controller summed up as the “first voice” of 5 Live from its new home in Salford and “the voice of our iconic Drive show for 10 years”, a tenure that spanned its coverage of Brexit and every major news and sporting event for a decade and a half. Livesey’s award-winning broadcasting record — including an ARIAS gold award for Dame Deborah James’s final interview — now sits alongside the newspaper past he had once cheerfully defended, when he said of the Sport: “we just try and give people a laugh, and that’s all I’ve done for 18 years.” Reference works already describe him as a broadcaster who “formerly presented” on 5 Live, and with no return to the airwaves announced, the scandal at the Sport titles has defined the close of his broadcasting career.