High-profile TalkSport presenter James Whale has been sacked after calling on listeners to vote for Boris Johnson in the London mayoral election.

Whale has been absent from his 10pm-1am phone-in show slot for several days, sparking speculation he had left.

In a statement today, TalkSport confirmed: "TalkSport presenter James Whale's contract with the radio station has been terminated after a breach of the Ofcom broadcasting code regarding due impartiality.

"It's very unfortunate. We have investigated the matter and after serious consideration, the station reached the decision that there was a clear breach of the rules and that we had no choice but to terminate his contract. James Whale is guilty of a gross error of judgment which we found to be totally unacceptable.

"Ofcom received a number of complaints following Whale's broadcast on March 20. TalkSport has acknowledge the seriousness of the complaints received, does not excuse the content of the broadcast and has told Ofcom that it has taken steps to prevent this happening again.

"The matter is still under investigation by Ofcom so it would be inappropriate to comment any further on the details of the complaints."

Whale's show will be taken over by Max Rushden until a long-term replacement is found.