Last night the BBC aired the final part of its “State of Chaos” series on the government collapse last year, with a focus on the infamous Truss-Kwarteng mini-Budget. It was a mostly routine BBC affair: conventional production values, a few decent soundbites from former advisers… and a sense viewers were being instructed to shake their heads solemnly at the Tories.  This morning, however, Trussites across the Commons and Lords are on the offensive…

Multiple MPs have blasted the BBC for ” regurgitating the Labour Party lines” and “ignoring” the role of the Bank of England in the last ten years. Craig Mackinlay told Guido this morning:

“When is anyone going to ask the Bank of England about their decision to fix interest rates at artificially low levels and the effective printing of £900bn of new money over the last ten years?  […] We have structural weaknesses within increasingly powerful and untouchable economic bodies yet in the simplistic BBC world all look to a political fall guy (or girl) to blame.”

Greg Smith added:

“I know it’s compelling viewing to tell these sorts of stories, but BBC viewers and license fee payers deserve something a little more in depth. The Bank of England chose to become the world’s first central bank to engage in quantitative tightening – selling government debt back into the market – just days before the mini budget, and it decided not to raise interest rates as decisively as the US Federal Reserve […] It’s a shame this isn’t being looked at by the BBC.”

Pauline Latham, meanwhile, fumed that there was “very little mention of the Bank of England’s record in failing to raise interest rates as decisively as in the US“, while a Tory peer tells Guido this morning “I hope the BBC can apply just as much rigour and enthusiasm to telling the story about the Bank of England’s record, as Laura does about the role of politicians.” One particular moment that’s agitated the Tory benches is this absolute howler from ex-Foreign Office Permanent Secretary Simon McDonald… 

The “British system” was able to “deal with” Prime Ministers who were “out of sympathy” with the public. According to whom? Simon McDonald? The same Simon McDonald who told his own Civil Servants he’d voted remain…