National Trust aide influenced Corbyn manifesto
Adam Dyster advises the charity’s director and claims ideas were used in Labour’s 2017 document
Anita Singh
Arts And Entertainment Editor
THE Culture Secretary has accused the BBC of political bias, saying that “impartiality is about perception”.
In an interview with Sky News, Lucy Frazer cited a BBC news report from October in which a journalist speculated that an explosion at a hospital in Gaza was caused by an Israeli strike. The Government announced tougher scrutiny of the broadcaster as part of its mid-term review of the BBC Charter, and said that viewers perceive that the corporation is not sufficiently impartial.
Asked in the interview if she shared
AN AIDE to the head of the National Trust has claimed he influenced Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour manifesto.
Adam Dyster is an adviser to Hilary Mcgrady, the National Trust’s director general. He previously worked for SERA, which says it is the only environmental group affiliated with Labour.
As a national organiser at the campaign group, he claims to have contributed policy ideas and briefings which influenced Labour’s 2017 manifesto, according to his Linkedin, which says he took on the role in 2021.
The manifesto under Mr Corbyn’s leadership promised to introduce a new Clean Air Act, pledged that a Labour government would plant a million trees and vowed to end the culling of badgers that spread bovine tuberculosis.
The revelation comes as Sir Keir Starmer promised yesterday to back the charity by resetting the relationship between it and the Government, after criticisms of the National Trust from Conservative ministers.
The Labour leader used a speech to accuse the Conservatives of pursuing a “weird Mccarthyism” aimed at “finding woke agendas” in institutions such as the conservation group.
Sir Keir faced an immediate backlash following his remarks, which represented a rare intervention by the opposition in the so-called culture wars.
Hours later the sentiment was echoed by Labour frontbencher Thangam Debbonaire.
The shadow culture secretary said it was a “good idea” to encourage children to question if there were things this country could have “done differently”, when she was asked on BBC Radio Four’s World at One show if Labour supported organisations which encourage children to learn about white privilege.
Mr Dyster’s current role includes speechwriting, advice and policy support for Mrs Mcgrady, who has been forced to defend the charity’s campaigning on the Government’s nature and climate change policies.
The charity criticised Rishi Sunak’s that view, Ms Frazer replied: “I think that on occasions it has been biased. We have seen recently it’s had to apologise for its own reporting in relation to the attack on the hospital in Gaza.”
However, asked for evidence of bias and whether the BBC’S story was biased or a mistake, Ms Frazer struggled to articulate her answer. “The evidence of bias is what audiences believe is the content of the BBC,” she said.
Told that perception and evidence are different things, Ms Frazer said: “That is evidence. Impartiality is about perception of the things that are being broadcast by the BBC.”
During her media round yesterday morning, Ms Frazer told Times Radio that as part of the full Charter Review in 2027 she would look at decriminalisation of non-payment of the licence fee.
“I don’t think it’s appropriate for the BBC to have criminal tools in its armoury. They should be thinking in all cases, ‘What is the appropriate mechanism?’ I think there are issues in relation to criminal prosecutions.”
However, speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she declined to answer a question about whether a universal licence fee, regardless of income, was fair. Asked if it was right in principle that someone on a six-figure salary and someone earning the minimum rollback on some net zero policies last year, calling it “barely fathomable” and urging the prime minister to rethink.
And in 2022, Mrs Mcgrady argued that several government policies threatened the National Trust’s charitable aims, including nature, beauty and heritage, as it set out a series of “red lines” for the charity.
Yesterday senior Tory MPS warned that Sir Keir’s defence of the National Trust over political correctness will encourage other organisations and charities to “run riot” with wokery.
In recent years, the charity has seen backlash from its members and Tory MPS, including criticism of a report that linked Winston Churchill to slavery and removing Christian holidays from its “inclusivity and wellbeing” calendar.
Charity chiefs have also been accused of “dumbing down” by removing important items from display, while also turning historic homes into “theme parks” designed for children. Dame Priti Patel, a former home secretary, said: “These comments are illustrative of the indifference from the Labour Party in terms of their potential approach in government.
“They would give free rein to allow organisations and institutions to run riot while disregarding the majority view and sensible mainstream values to pursue, quite frankly, minority interests – allowing fringe groups to hijack and take over organisations.”
Greg Smith, the Conservative MP for Buckingham, said Labour politicians “have always pinned their political stripes to the woke mast”, citing Sir Keir’s comments as “more evidence that a Labour government would be a woke government”.
Asked about Sir Keir’s comments, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters the National Trust was an “important institution loved by many” but must operate within the rules set out by the Charity Commission.
A National Trust spokesman said: “The adviser to the director general and chairman works on our relationship with stakeholders including parliamentarians. The person in the role liaises with policymakers from all parties on issues that affect the charity and its cause.
“All our staff remain impartial to party politics but it’s important that people working in this area have experience of working in political circles.” wage should pay the same amount, she said it was “a very, very complex issue”.
The BBC board must tackle the corporation’s “groupthink” and ensure that its coverage represents all political views, the review said.
While the broadcaster has made strides on ethnic diversity, it has more to do on diversity of thought and opinion. The incoming BBC chairman, Samir Shah, must lead the board in ensuring that “a wide range of different views about the world are reflected”.
“We heard concerns that the BBC is not accurately reflecting diversity of thought and opinion across the organisation, and that some audience groups may feel under-served by the BBC as a result,” the review said. “We expect the BBC Board to continue overseeing the organisation’s plans to increase diversity, and to consider how diversity of thought and opinion could be better reflected in decision-making.”
The review noted that “audience perceptions of the BBC on issues like impartiality have declined over time, and there is a risk that any lack of diversity of thought within the organisation could fuel negative perceptions and/or limit the BBC’S own ability to best serve and represent audiences.”
A recent external review of the BBC’S fiscal coverage found evidence of “lack of impartiality caused by uninformed groupthink”. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today, Ms Frazer praised GB News.
“I’m in favour of media plurality and what that means is that there’s a wide variety of views out there for people to watch and listen to, so that audiences can find the views that they want to hear,” she said.
Asked by Amol Rajan how the channel can be impartial when many of its shows are presented by former or current Tory politicians, Ms Frazer said: “A broadcaster has to be impartial over the spectrum of what it broadcasts… There is a balance across the spectrum in relation to GB News.”
‘This is more evidence that a Labour government would be a woke government’