STORM RAGES OVER MAITLIS

Fury over her Cummings outburst ... but others attack BBC apology

THE BBC was embroiled in a bitter internal row last night after bosses ruled a monologue by Newsnight host Emily Maitlis about Dominic Cummings broke impartiality rules.

Controversy over Tuesday night’s BBC2 show sparked a torrent of anger from viewers, with 18,000 complaints to the broadcaster in one day.

Some viewers were incensed by Miss Maitlis’s speech, which they believed showed bias, while others were furious about the corporation’s rapid climbdown and failure to support her.

Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom also revealed it had received 247 complaints about Miss Maitlis’ comments.

In her introduction to the show, she claimed the public had been made to ‘feel like fools’ in the row over No 10 aide Mr Cummings. She also accused Boris Johnson of showing ‘blind loyalty’ towards his adviser.

She insisted that Mr Cummings, who drove 260 miles from London to Durham during lockdown, had ‘broken the rules’ and ‘the country can see that and it’s shocked the Government cannot’.

Miss Maitlis, 49, said the public mood was ‘one of fury, contempt and anguish’.

Within 24 hours, the BBC released a statement saying the programme had not met ‘standards of due impartiality’ adding that staff had been ‘reminded of the guidelines’. The row has created huge divisions within the BBC. Miss Maitlis did not present Wednesday night’s show, but insisted she had decided to take the evening off.

Yesterday she said she had been ‘overwhelmed’ by support from viewers. One Newsnight insider said there was ‘complete astonishment’ and ‘fury’ in the team at the way BBC bosses had handled the situation.

The source said the speed at which the corporation put out the statement was ‘unprecedented’ and there had been ‘zero engagement’ with Newsnight staff. They claimed bosses had acted ‘partially’ by the taking the Government’s side. Former Newsnight economics editor Paul Mason said the decision made him ‘sick’.

But other respected broadcasters at the BBC disagreed, saying Newsnight needed to stick to the rules.

One well-known journalist said it was not its role to ‘speak on behalf of the British people’ because there was not one unanimous view. They added: ‘There are the rules and you just have to find a way of dealing with it.’ Another broadcaster said ‘a bunch of BBC managers were very offended’ by the speech.

The BBC’s statement is understood to have been signed off by the director of news Fran Unsworth and involved head of current affairs Joanna Carr. Last night, some staff accused the BBC of sexism, noting that male presenters who ‘editorialise’ had not been hauled over the coals.

One Newsnight journalist criticised ‘the speed at which they came to this decision, which was completely unprecedented, with zero engagement’. They added: ‘There is complete astonishment and fury. Acting this way delegitimises everything in the programme that night and the programme’s coverage more generally.’

But other long-serving BBC journalists backed bosses. One said: ‘If you work for the BBC there are the rules and you just have to find a way of dealing with it.’ Yesterday Miss Maitlis tweeted: ‘Been overwhelmed by all the kindness, messages – and support.’

The BBC statement said the programme ‘should have done more to make clear the introduction was a summary of the questions we would examine, with all the accompanying evidence, in the rest of the programme’. Last night the corporation tried to defuse the row by putting out a lengthier explanation, saying it was ‘not a question of apportioning blame to anyone’. It insisted: ‘Our audiences hold the BBC in high trust, not least because we hold ourselves to exacting standards, and we do not want to forfeit this by ignoring our own rules.’

It said Miss Maitlis’s introduction had ‘risked giving the perception that the BBC was taking sides, and expressing an opinion, rather than being impartial’. In April, Miss Maitlis also made a hard-hitting speech on Newsnight, dismissing claims that coronavirus was a ‘great leveller’ for society as she insisted the poorest were less likely to survive.

‘Zero engagement with Newsnight staff’