Dyson: BBC mud-slinging was shameful
He wins apology after ‘Tory donor’ row
James Dyson accused the BBC of ‘political mudslinging’ yesterday for referring to him as a significant Tory supporter.
The entrepreneur said that the corporation had ‘ shamefully twisted’ a charitable gift his foundation had made to ‘suit their political narrative’.
He hit out after the BBC apologised over reports it carried about texts he exchanged with the Prime minister.
The texts were sent in the early stages of the pandemic when the Government was trying to persuade sir James to manufacture ventilators to fight the crisis in hospitals.
They showed that Boris Johnson promised to ‘fix’ the tax situation so that Dyson could work on the project without staff facing a tax penalty.
The Prime minister contacted the engineer asking for help as the virus raged out of control and sir James pledged his help – but asked for assurances about tax, given his firm is now based in singapore. mr Johnson replied that he would ‘fix it’.
He then added ‘Rishi says it is fixed!! We need you here’.
Just two weeks later, Chancellor Rishi sunak told mPs that those coming into the UK to offer help during the pandemic would not see a change in their tax status. sir James complained to the BBC for referring to him as a ‘prominent Conservative supporter’ after he donated money to an event organised by a Tory mP.
The James Dyson Foundation made a charitable gift of £ 11,450 to support the Wiltshire engineering Festival for schoolchildren. The event had been organised by Tory mP michelle Donelan, but was not party political.
The BBC yesterday published an apology, accepting sir James was not a ‘prominent Conservative supporter’. It addressed other aspects of the businessman’s complaint, saying: ‘We wish to make it clear that sir James contacted No10 in response to the Prime minister’s direct request to him for assistance in relation to the urgent need for ventilators and incurred costs of £ 20million which his company voluntarily absorbed in trying to assist the national emergency.
‘His text messages to the Prime minister were also later sent to officials. We are sorry that these facts were not always reflected in our coverage, and we apologise for not doing so.’
sir James said he accepted the apology, but added: ‘To justify its claim that I am a “prominent Conservative supporter” the BBC shamefully twisted our charitable gift to schoolchildren to suit their political narrative.’
He added: ‘The Prime minister asked Dyson to help at a time of crisis, in the national interest, and we did just that.
‘We dropped everything and focused on the national effort. It was deeply disappointing, for me and for the hundreds of Dyson people who gave it their all, to have our efforts mischaracterised and used for political - mud-slinging.’
‘Help at a time of crisis’