Jeremy Paxman will anchor Channel 4’s general election coverage next year after the broadcaster swooped to sign up the former Newsnight presenter.

Paxman presented his last edition of Newsnight in June after a quarter of a century fronting the programme.

His signing is a coup for Channel 4, which will look to take on the BBC, ITV and Sky News when the country goes to the polls on 7 May next year.

Paxman said: “There are new and interesting questions to ask about the way we choose our governments. This should be fun.”

Channel 4 opted out of providing traditional coverage of the last election, broadcasting a four-hour live “alternative election night” featuring Jimmy Carr, David Mitchell, Charlie Brooker and Lauren Laverne. It ended up beating ITV with a 10.4% share of the audience.

Further details of Channel 4’s coverage are still to be confirmed by the broadcaster.

Channel 4’s chief creative officer, Jay Hunt, said: “Jeremy is a compelling presenter and makes truly unmissable TV for those big political moments. His sense of mischief and danger make him a fantastic fit with Channel 4.”

The broadcaster said Channel 4 News anchor Jon Snow “is and will remain our key anchor for Channel 4 News throughout the election period”.

Paxman’s new role, announced by Channel 4 on Wednesday, follows speculation about what the presenter would do next after leaving Newsnight.

Hunt, a former BBC News executive and editor of BBC1’s 1pm and 6pm bulletins, confirmed at the Guardian Edinburgh International TV Festival last month that she had been in talks with Paxman about a Channel 4 role.

“I have known Jeremy for years and worked with him on Newsnight,” she said. “[Channel 4 News presenter] Jon Snow should not be worried in any way. But am I in talks? Yes, of course.”

Paxman took a stand-up show to Edinburgh in August and continues to present BBC2’s long-running quiz University Challenge.

In an interview with the London Evening Standard earlier this month, Newsnight editor Ian Katz told how Paxman had told him he was leaving over lunch in his first day in the job.

Katz described Paxman as “dyspeptic about pretty much everything. Ideas are flattened. Almost everything you suggest Jeremy will think is ‘preposterous’ or ‘infantile’ or an otherwise ‘completely lamentable’ idea, and that’s a challenge because you have to sell it to him.”

It remains to be seen whether Paxman will front a more traditional style election night programme on Channel 4, or whether he will be part of a line-up echoing its 2010 programme.

Given the channel’s remit to provide an alternative to the mainstream, and the success it enjoyed four years ago, the latter appears to be more likely. The BBC already has Dimbleby, so why try to ape him with Paxman?

Paxman’s interview with Russell Brand on Newsnight proved a YouTube hit and was one of the most talked about political interviews of last year.

He will go head to head with his former BBC colleagues David Dimbleby and Huw Edwards on election night.

It will be Dimbleby’s ninth and last general election for the BBC, hosting the night of the poll until 7am when Edwards will take over. Edwards, who had been tipped to be the BBC’s sole anchor for 2015, will instead take on the role after next year’s poll.

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