Eddie Mair, the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, has announced he is leaving the corporation after over 30 years, stepping down in August.

Mair, 52, has been the lead presenter on the late-afternoon flagship news programme for 20 years and won multiple awards for his mixture of warmth and incisive questioning.

He made headlines when he said to Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, “you’re a nasty piece of work aren’t you” while interviewing him on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show, and he broadcast a series of interviews with Steve Hewlett, a media commentator, as he was dying of cancer.

In a statement on Sunday, he said: “I thought this was the appropriate moment to step out and give someone else a chance, before I’m so old my sentences make no lasagne. I’m going to miss the PM team, and Tony Hall’s aftershave.

“I realise the BBC will close down without me and there will be a run on the pound but I can’t stay in an organisation that refused to let me host Songs of Praise. I bought a jacket and everything.”

There was no information about what he plans to do next. His departure follows a round of contract negotiations involving some of the BBC’s biggest stars, in the wake of a public outcry over the high salaries paid to leading presenters.

Earlier this year it was reported that the PM presenter, who is one of the corporation’s top earners with a salary between £300,000 and £350,000, was the last major male BBC star who was refusing to take a pay cut.

Other leading BBC figures, including the former political editor Nick Robinson, 5Live host Nicky Campbell and the News at Ten presenter Huw Edwards agreed to pay cuts in January. John Humphrys, the programme host of Radio 4’s Today programme, also announced he would earn “hugely less” after criticism that he was taking home more than £600,000 a year for presenting the news programme and hosting Mastermind.

The contract negotiations risk pushing prominent BBC figures to seek work outside the corporation. BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine agreed to reduce his salary, describing it as a “no brainer” but soon after signed up to present Channel 5’s reboot of The Wright Stuff.

Fran Unsworth, director of BBC News, said an announcement on Mair’s successor would be made in due course and his last broadcast would be on 17 August.

“Eddie has had a fantastic career at the BBC,” she said. “Over the many years he has been here, he has been hugely popular with the public. He is one of the outstanding broadcasters of his generation and his new employer is very lucky to have him.

“Eddie leaves with our thanks and everyone at the BBC wishes him well for the future.”