Kay Burley did not mince her words as she hit back at Camilla Tominey after she published a scathing column reacting to the broadcaster’s Sky News exit after almost four decades on-air.
Burley, 64, announced during Monday’s breakfast programme that she was retiring from the channel after helping to launch it back in 1989.
Camillia Tominey, who hosts a Sunday morning show on GB News, wrote: “Some may say good riddance, but like her or loathe ‘Hurley Burley’, you can’t fault the 64-year old’s staying power.
“Even after she was taken off air for six months having broken lockdown rules in December 2020 during her 60th birthday party, she re-emerged on the breakfast show with a typically self-effacing: ‘Hope you’re as happy as I am to be back.’
“As resilient as her facelift, part of Burley’s appeal was her imperviousness to criticism. TV’s answer to Liz Truss, she let every gaffe wash over her like lettuce in a salad spinner,” she added in her column for The Telegraph.
In response, Burley took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to call out Tominey for not supporting other women.
She wrote: “Sweetie @CamillaTominey as the late, great Madeleine Albright said, there is a special place in hell for women who don’t support other women.”
Wigan-born Burley became a defining figure of Sky News during her tenure, covering a number of major stories including the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and 9/11, for which she won the broadcaster a Bafta Award.
Despite her triumphs, she has also faced heavy criticism over the years, with calls for her dismissal due to her blunt interviewing style and the thousands of complaints logged with Ofcom.
Some of her most controversial Sky News moments have included making singer Peter Andre cry in 2010 live on air as she discussed his former wife Katie Price remarrying and probing how that could impact his relationship with the two children they share together.
She also sparked outrage back in 2008 when sitting down with Pam Wright, the former partner of convicted killer Steve Wright, known as the Suffolk Strangler.
In a shocking exchange, Burley suggested that her relationship with Wright might have contributed to his gruesome crimes. “Five murders in six weeks. Do you think if you’d had a better sex life he wouldn’t have done that?” Burley asked a stunned Pam.
