Who is Kate Garraway’s boyfriend Liam Halligan and when was the relationship ‘hard launched’?

KATE Garraway has gone public with her romance with Liam Halligan – a friend of her late husband Derek Draper. The Good Morning Britain presenter marked the moment with a sweet selfie from a birthday party. Kate Garraway brought boyfriend Liam Halligan to her best friend’s husband’s birthday party on Friday, July 24 Credit: @kategarraway/X Kate knew Liam (right) for 20 years before they got together Credit: Instagram Who is Liam Halligan? Liam Halligan, 57, is a British-Irish economist, journalist and broadcaster who has written The Sunday Telegraph’s weekly Economic Agenda column since 2003. He co-founded and co-hosts the paper’s Planet Normal podcast, reported from Moscow for The Economist, and was a political correspondent at the Financial Times. Sign up for the Showbiz newsletter Thank you! Liam spent a decade leading economics coverage at Channel 4 News, and was economics and business editor at GB News before leaving in 2024. He is the author of a book on the UK housing shortage titled Home Truths, which was published in 2019. Liam also writes a Substack newsletter called When the Facts Change, which he launched in March 2025. He has two daughters and a son with his former partner Lucy Ward, who is also a journalist. Liam splits his time between London and Saffron Walden, his Essex hometown, and plays in a band called The Hooligans. How did Kate Garraway and Liam Halligan meet? Kate Garraway, 59, is understood to have known Liam for more than 20 years – he was a friend of her late husband Derek Draper. Most read in Showbiz Derek passed away on January 3, 2024, aged 56, after a battle with long Covid. He and Kate married in 2005, and had two children together – Darcey and Billy. Reports that Kate and Liam had grown close first surfaced in April 2026, after Kate turned up to watch his band play. At the time, Liam told Mark Dolan’s TalkRadio show: “I’ve known Kate for a long time. “I knew her late husband Derek – of course I did, I was a correspondent for the Financial Times in the late 90s. “In recent years, for different reasons, we’ve both ended up single, against our wishes, I should say. “And so, in recent weeks and months, Kate and I have become good friends. “We were reintroduced having known each other back in the day by mutual friends.” He added: “And Kate and a lot of friends came to see my band The Hooligans play in Saffron Walden, my hometown, over the weekend. “And it turns out that some of my neighbours were quite excited that a presenter they have watched for many years was in the pub and posted some pictures. “So Kate and I are close friends. It’s early days, we’ll see what happens.” The following month Kate was pictured with Liam at a London cycling event as he set off on a 24-hour ride to Paris for the charity Duchenne UK. And in early July, the pair took their first romantic trip abroad together, with Kate joining Liam on a work trip to Italy. An insider said: “Liam was travelling to Italy and asked Kate to join him; she was happy to oblige. “It will be quite low-key, but they are hoping to be able to spend some time together and enjoy the Italian cuisine.” When did Kate Garraway ‘hard launch’ the relationship? On Friday, July 24, Kate posted a sweet selfie of herself smiling alongside Liam and friends at a birthday party. The ITV star’s best friend wrote on X: “Happy birthday to my darling husband. We are celebrating on your birthday eve with our best friends. Love you.” Kate re-posted it and replied: “We love you James!” This happy development in her love life is a long way from where she was a year ago. Kate previously told The Sun: “I wouldn’t like to think I’d spend the rest of my life without love, but also it feels preposterous at the moment to think of being with anyone else. “What Derek and I loved was our home life and just pottering around, and we had 21 years of that, so mentally I am still in that zone. “However, I do realise that, when the time is right, I am not going to meet someone in my living room, so I’m going to have to think about the future at some point.” Comment now