Back in April Guido revealed that the BBC’s beleaguered “fact-checking” service Verify employed a whopping 63 people with combined salary of £3.2 million. As Guido calculated in the summer its staff were therefore being paid approximately £13,675 per article produced. Nice for some…
It can now be revealed that after months of debunked reporting and observed decreases in article production BBC Verify has actually managed to increase its staff costs by £100,000. Despite the fact that two members of staff have been dropped…
A Guido FOI has established that 61 people with costs of £3.3 million now form the Verify team. Meanwhile, the BBC stoutly refuses to reveal any details of expense costs claimed by its Verify employees, like gratuitous trips to the USA, on the grounds that it has dispensation to protect information relating to “art, journalism or literature.” In many ways Verify does look like some kind of bizarre art project…
Asked by Lobby hacks about his past comments on Trump (“any UK politician who gave Trump the time of day should be ashamed right now”) Burnham was blithe:
“Politicians say things throughout their career, but now the important thing is to focus on the moment you are in.”
Were it so easy…