Hardline centrist hacks are struggling to have as much fun with Free Gear Keir, Labour Cronygate, and Sue Gray’s whopping salary as they did with similar (and often fabricated) stories about the Tories. The hypocrisy of Labour promising to “clean up politics” and then swiftly being exposed for doing the opposite within 100 days of being in power, splashing across most of the front pages. Though some have decided that a more pressing story is… James O’Brien’s unhinged rant about Nigel Farage:
It’s rare that James O’Brien and Nigel Farage are in the same room.
So when the Reform UK leader was leaving the LBC studios after his phone-in with Nick Ferrari, @mrjamesob delivered a one-of-a-kind handover. pic.twitter.com/owIDJUce9q
— LBC (@LBC) September 19, 2024
Emily Maitlis took to X to deliver her original thought on the show: “Just your normal studio handover. Like a throw to the weather really … except ….”. Pippa Crerar followed suit, tweeting: , while Jon Sopel reposted with a simple string of shocked faced emojis. Not like there’s anything more pressing to be tweeting about…
Yesterday was a tough today for the hardline centrist hacks who rushed to Huw Edwards’ defence after allegations he paid a child for indecent images surfaced. As the Metropolitan Police confirmed BBC presenter Huw Edwards was charged with three accounts of making explicit photos, the lefty pundits look rather silly for slamming The Sun for surfacing the scandal and running to Huw’s defence. Guido has browsed through the archives of these supposed ‘hommes serieux’ who will be more than a little red-faced…
The questions for The Sun just got bigger still.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) July 12, 2023
Former Editor of The Sun, David Yelland rushed to attack the paper, posting this a few hours after Huw’s wife named him as the presenter embroiled in scandal:
I wish @thehuwedwards well. The Sun inflicted terror on Huw despite no evidence of any criminal offence. This is no longer a BBC crisis, it is a crisis for the paper. Huw’s privacy must now be respected. Social media also needs speedy reform.
— David Yelland (@davidyelland) July 12, 2023
Emily Maitlis also blasted the “distasteful” BBC coverage of further allegations coming to light, questioning on The News Agents whether journalism had gone “too far” while “this poor man was in hospital, and that was absolutely appalling, and yet obviously there will be journalists here saying “but that doesn’t stop us doing our work”. Let’s not forget that the child’s mother initially approached the BBC to report the disturbing situation and she was met with silence…
Meanwhile, Jon Sopel was quick to wish Huw well:
This is an awful and shocking episode, where there was no criminality, but perhaps a complicated private life. That doesn’t feel very private now. I hope that will give some cause to reflect. They really need to. I wish @thehuwedwards well. pic.twitter.com/H3rN3bhE1U
— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) July 12, 2023
Last but not least, Corbynite luvvie Owen Jones posted a moving defence that hasn’t aged well:
The Sun is a disgusting rag and they have to pay for what they’ve done to Huw Edwards.
They tried to destroy someone’s life with false claims of illegality involving a minor.
We know now there was no criminality, and The Sun have driven a vulnerable man into medical care.
— Owen Jones (@OwenJones84) July 12, 2023
They’re not leaping to his aid anymore…
The News Agents hosts Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel are providing their usual incisive analysis of the media landscape by discovering that Tory MP presenters on GB News talk about politics. Sopel whined that he wouldn’t have a problem with them doing travel programmes:
“Jacob Rees-Mogg takes the bus. That would be fine. I’d have no problem with it. But it’s Jacob Rees-Mogg doing politics.” Jacob Rees-Mogg taking the bus would be more entertaining than Sopel and Maitlis’ snoozefest…
Sopel’s complaint also misses the point in the Ofcom investigations, which is whether programmes slip out of politics and into news. Emily Maitlis says that Ofcom is scared of GB News – tell that to the 21 spats they’ve had in the last two years. Sopel then goes on to point out that GB News is “swashbuckling” while “the rest of broadcasting seems to be playing by the rules“. That doesn’t apply to when his own co-presenters were still employed by them…
Jon Sopel apologises to Nigel Farage and throws some shade on the BBC…
Dear Nigel,
Always believed when I get things wrong, I own up to it. I got it wrong. Sorry. That will teach me to trust reporting of my old employer 😉 If your political views were even part of the reason why account was suspended from Coutts that is totally reprehensible.
Jon
As Gary Lineker’s off-side remark about the government’s immigration agenda brings BBC bias back into focus, the hosts of the News Agents podcast have had their say. Because who better to speak on impartiality than someone who was repeatedly found to have breached the rules.
Jon Sopel first chimed in that when he was abroad in America covering Trump “I was given huge amounts of latitude to call it as I saw it” – and BBC bosses backed him for it. No surprises there.
Lewis Goodall then shared his views, first claiming the Tories have succeeded in making sure “impartiality only goes in one direction”. He then spoke about Robbie Gibb, saying he made his life “very difficult”. Lewis complains that people would warn him that “Robbie’s watching you” because they “created this confection that somehow I was Labour supporting”. In the very next sentence, Lewis then admitted he was Labour-leaning.
Of course, Robbie would have been more than justified to keep an eye on Lewis. Whilst at Newsnight, he penned an anti-government front-page piece for the New Statesman – a flagrant breach of the BBC’s guidelines. He was considered a hostile opponent by Boris’ operation. At Sky, he was able to publish a long anti-Boris article and he used to work for the lefty think tank IPPR. Lewis was forever going over the top on Twitter and having to delete tweets when he remembered he was supposed to be impartial. Yet somehow it was the BBC that “created this confection”. Considering Lewis’ background, being indirectly told to take care with the editorial direction of his content hardly seems like the “crazy” approach to impartiality he was keen to describe.
The betting markets were thrown into chaos yesterday afternoon as Jon Sopel announced he was quitting the BBC to launch a new Global podcast with Emily Maitlis. Sopel had been in the lead ever since Vicky Young formally ruled herself out as a contender back in January – despite Guido’s top advice that a punt on Alex Forsyth would be a good move.
Forsyth has now taken a big lead in the race, with a 27% chance of nabbing the job versus Faisal Islam’s 9%. Amol Rajan and Sam Coates trail way behind on 4.4% and 1.3% respectively. Guido wonders if a surprise outsider could be on the cards? Applications closed on the 10th – can’t be long to wait now…
