Katie Hopkins to leave LBC 'immediately'

Katie Hopkins appeared on The Apprentice in 2007

Broadcaster Katie Hopkins is to leave her show on LBC "immediately", the national talk radio station has said.

The presenter, who first rose to prominence as a contestant on The Apprentice in 2007, joined LBC last April.

Hopkins is known for her controversial opinions and regularly attracts criticism for her views.

She has continued tweeting since LBC's announcement but has not yet referred to her own departure.

• Seven times Katie Hopkins hit the headlines

Hopkins is also a Mail Online columnist and appeared in Celebrity Big Brother in 2015, finishing in second place.

Both LBC and Hopkins declined to comment further when contacted by the BBC.

Her two-hour programme was broadcast every Sunday morning and saw her review the week's news and take calls from listeners.

This week, she caused anger with when she tweeted that there must be a "final solution" in dealing with terrorists following the Manchester terror attack.

Some followers questioned her use of the phrase "final solution" - a term used by the Nazis to refer to the Holocaust - but later Hopkins altered it to "true solution", describing the earlier version as a "mis-type".

But some Twitter users drew the comments to the attention of the Metropolitan Police, claiming they could incite racial or religious hatred.

The Metropolitan Police confirmed the matter was being "reviewed and assessed by specialist officers".

After Hopkins made the comments, another LBC presenter, James O'Brien, described on air the "shame" he felt about sharing a platform with her.

He called Hopkins "a monstrous self-publicist" who "employs the most vile of thoughts and language in a desperate attempt to stay relevant and get noticed".

Katie Hopkins finished second in Celebrity Big Brother in 2015

Earlier this year, food writer Jack Monroe won £24,000 in damages, plus £107,000 in legal costs, in a libel action against Hopkins after a row over two tweets, which Monroe said caused "serious harm" to her reputation.

Hopkins was later told she could not appeal against the ruling.

In December, she apologised to a Muslim family she accused of being extremists after they were refused entry to the US for a Disneyland trip.

Mail Online, which published her claim, also paid £150,000 in libel damages to the Mahmood family.

Hopkins has gradually built up her reputation as a controversial figure since 2013, when she appeared on This Morning during a discussion about children's names.

Last year, she cut her hair short, explaining that she was not allowed to wash it immediately following successful brain surgery to treat her epilepsy.

In 2014, she told The Guardian that as a result of the condition her arms would dislocate during fits and she would have to go into hospital to have them relocated. "I'm hard with myself. Get on with it. Move on. Get your arms put back in," she said.