Stewart presented News At Ten

Stewart was one of News At Ten's regular presenters until 1992, when Sir Trevor McDonald became the bulletin's sole presenter.

He reported from the Middle East during the 1991 Gulf War, and also served time as ITN's Washington correspondent.

Stewart will be seen on the ITV News Channel, as the network looks to beef up its news service if war breaks out.

Since 1993 he has presented London Tonight, ITV1's local bulletin in the capital, and fronted a number of documentaries for the network.

He has also presented a Sunday morning current affairs slot for GMTV.

Discussions

If war breaks out, he will combine working for the ITV News Channel with his current job with London News Network (LNN), which makes London Tonight.

Stewart said he took the job after discussions with ITV's head of news and current affairs, Steve Anderson, and ITV news editor David Mannion.

"I've been able to win the generous support of my employers at LNN that in the event of a war I will certainly be doing stuff at ITN on the News Channel," Stewart said.

"I'm absolutely thrilled to bits," he added.

"I will also carry on presenting a reduced London Tonight - if there's a war, regional news bulletins will diminish. The attraction in them for me is simply that I was there 12 years ago in war one."

The ITV News Channel is a relatively new addition to ITV's line-up of channels, taking over from the ITN News Channel last year and competing for viewers with BBC News 24 and Sky News.

An expanded line-up of presenters for the ITV News Channel - which is expected to include former BBC newscaster Angela Rippon - will be confirmed next week.