Another victory for Guido’s co-conspirators, as the BBC has finally admitted to a “biased” attack on GB News on Newsnight last month, conceding they breached their own editorial standards. The programme received multiple complaints – Guido let co-conspirators know how they could complain about the show – and Philip Davies MP wrote an official letter to the BBC. It only took a month for a reply…
Davies told GB News:
“I complained on their behalf to the BBC and it has taken precisely one month to get their final response with a mealy-mouthed, grudging acceptance that the programme was indeed in breach of rules of impartiality, although it is disappointing that their final decision spent more time seeking to justify their actions than apologising.”
Davies has referred the issue to Ofcom to investigate further, hoping they can use their “powers” to ensure Newsnight doesn’t just have three people nodding in agreement again. No wonder the show is facing a £5 million budget cut…
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has launched four more impartiality investigations into GB News, with three of those complaints focused on shows fronted by Tory MPs. The four new complaints relate to:
- Two episodes of Friday Morning with Esther and Phil (Esther McVey and Philip Davies)
- An episode State of the Nation (Jacob Rees-Mogg)
- An episode of the Laurence Fox show (guest presented by Martin Daubney)
McVey, Davies and Rees-Mogg are being investigated for potential breaches of Broadcasting Code Rule 5.3, which “prevents politicians from acting as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.” McVey and Davies are under the microscope for a programme which aired in May, during which they discussed the story of a teen sentenced for terrorism offences, along with their cosy interview with Jeremy Hunt. Rees-Mogg’s show is being probed for discussing a stabbing attack in Nottingham. The programme is already under investigation after its star presenter read out a breaking news line about Donald Trump on 9th May. Ofcom rules demand a ‘clear distinction’ between newsreaders and opinion presenters…
Martin Daubney has upset the regulators by potentially failing to uphold due impartiality while discussing immigration with Reform Party leader Richard Tice. Daubney was deputising for Laurence Fox. The channel is also facing an ongoing investigation into its Don’t Kill Cash campaign which, as Guido has already reported, is also receiving lots of complaints from politically motivated people with an axe to grind…
Hat-tip: Press Gazette
Philip Davies couldn’t miss the opportunity to take aim at Boris Johnson for his planned introduction of a ban on ‘buy one get one free’ deals. At PMQs today, Philip started his plea for Rishi scrap the “socialist landmine” with an underhand jibe at Johnson:
“One of the socialist landmines the Prime Minister has inherited from the former Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, I’m sure the Prime Minister remembers him. He’s the one who said we should be more Conservative – if only he’d had an 80-seat majority and been Prime Minister he might have been able to do something about it…”
Rishi couldn’t commit to scrapping Boris’s ban. His spokesman later said it’s still set to come into effect in October…
IPSA has recently published an update to expense claims for the period ending January 2022. As such, Guido can reveal some of the greatest excesses of your representatives over the 2021-22 period. As usual, there are plenty of MPs cashing in on top-end Apple tech, even with more affordable – and equally functional – options on the market. Here are the 38 MPs who thought otherwise:
- Ben Wallace – £114
- Douglas Chapman – £119
- Mark Harper – £128
- Christopher Chope – £143
- Liam Byrne – £150
- William Wragg – £159
- Leo Docherty – £167
- Mark Jenkinson – £178
- Rushanara Ali – £238
- David Warburton – £296
- David Davies – £305
- Andrew Mitchell – £350 (Mac Mini)
- Claudia Webbe – £456
- Johnny Mercer – £469
- Elanor Laing – £499
- Fay Jones – £747
- Oliver Dowden – £849
- Bob Stewart – £889 (Laptop for use by staffer)
- Mark Spencer – £969 (iPad Pro)
- Robert Syms – £999
- Stewart McDonald – £999
- Greg Smith – £1,018
- Matt Warman – £1,049
- Alister Jack – £1,099
- Lucy Allan – £1,137
- David Davis – £1,176
- Mike Freer – £1,288 (iPad and adapters)
- Barry Sheerman – £1,299
- Geraint Davies – £1,355 (MacBook)
- Amy Callaghan – £1,699
- Andrew Selous – £1,758
- Sharon Hodgson – £1,799
- Lia Nici – £1,899 (MacBook Pro)
- Neale Hanvey – £2,128
- Kenny MacAskill – £2,263
- Fabian Hamilton – £3,177 (iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Air 13.3 inch)
- Philip Davies – £6,175
No doubt co-conspirators will be familiar with many of the names on this list. Philip Davies and Fabian Hamilton occupy especially shameful positions. Kenny MacAskill’s shouty opposition to the union doesn’t stop him from spending British taxpayers’ money. Meanwhile Claudia Webbe, the former Labour MP still in post despite a harassment conviction, is evidently taking liberties with the perks of office…
At least the above have been honest with the source of their spending. Other MPs are less open to scrutiny, with four spending over £1,000 on mobile phone purchases without specifying a brand. These are:
- Nadine Dorries – £1,687
- Ian Liddell-Grainger – £1,500
- Mark Menzies – £1,111
- Stewart McDonald – £1,181
That brings the total spend to £45,141…
Apple products are not the only source of indulgence. Guido notes that Sir Keir made the third largest single purchase of computer equipment of any MP, coming in at £3,125. It could be worse, Richard Bacon MP spent over £4,670 on three bookshelves…
Search for the expenses of your MP here.
Tory power couple MPs Esther McVey and Philip Davies managed to secure a sit-down interview with the PM, set to be broadcast in full during their show tomorrow, in which the PM says he cannot rule out another lockdown. Guido reckons the PM can announce whatever he likes, the public has declared the pandemic over and after Partygate may no longer listen to new rules…
“I want to avoid any such thing happening again, and I can’t rule out some, Esther, I can’t say we wouldn’t be forced to do non-pharmaceutical interventions again of the kind we did.
I think it would be irresponsible of any leader in any democracy to say they’re going to rule out something that would save lives… there could be a new variant – more deadly – there could be a variant that affects children badly that we really need to contain, I’m not going to take any options off the table.”
The interview is a real coup for McVey, who both managed to secure an interview with the PM and avoided doxxing his mobile phone number…
The Mirror’s Mikey Smith has recently been on a one-man crusade to call out GB News’ weekend show offering, which unlike any other news channel now has two married Tory MPs – Esther McVey and Phillip Davies – interviewing Tory ministers. Mikey argues this undermines the channel’s anti-establishment nature…
Since this criticism, it seems Esther McVey has gone out of her way to try and maximise scrutiny of government ministers. Taking to Instagram yesterday, the former minister posted a photo of the show’s running order. Accidentally doxxing the Health Secretary and his SpAd in the process…
Say what you like about GB News, Sophy Ridge would never provide such explosive access to Whitehall secrets…
