Moira Stuart quits BBC News

Moira Stuart is to leave BBC News after over three decades at the corporation, it was confirmed this afternoon.

In a statement, the BBC said Stuart was leaving in order "to work on a wider range of projects".

BBC News director Helen Boaden said: "Throughout her 30 plus years at the BBC, Moira has achieved a great deal. She has always been a model professional as well as being much loved and admired by both the public and her BBC colleagues. Everyone in BBC News wishes her all the best for the future."

Speculation that Stuart would leave the corporation started after she was dropped as newsreader from Andrew Marr's Sunday AM programme, a decision criticised by Marr and fellow journalists Jeremy Paxman and John Humphrys. In April, the BBC's director general Mark Thompson defended the decision, and said that BBC News was moving away from employing people purely to read the news.

In May, Stuart was linked with a possible role at ITV News.