BBC accused of swallowing NHS for sale lie
Tory rage at News at Ten for failing to report trenchant Trump denial
BBC bosses were last night accused of blatant ‘anti-Boris bias’ for failing to nail Labour’s lie that the Tories will sell off the National Health Service to Donald Trump after Brexit.
Conservatives angrily accused BBC1’s flagship News at Ten of promoting Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘ridiculous’ claim last week – even though the US President specifically ruled it out on the very same day.
Tory MPs demanded to know why Mr Trump’s trenchant denial was not included in the BBC report on Thursday night.
They also took offence at what they saw as ‘ pro- Corbyn’ references, including BBC deputy political editor John Pienaar reporting how ‘Jeremy Corbyn has offered real change’.
Conservative MP David Morris said: ‘Barely has the Election campaign begun and already the BBC is betraying its pro-Corbyn leanings and its anti-Boris bias.’
The row erupted over the Corporation’s coverage of day one of the campaign, which was dominated by Mr Trump’s surprise intervention in favour of Mr Johnson and an attack on Mr Corbyn.
In a radio interview with Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, the President dismissed Labour suggestions that after Brexit, the US would buy up the NHS. He said: ‘ We wouldn’t even be involved in it. We’re trying to fix our own health service.
‘It’s not for us to have anything to do with your health service. We’re just talking about trade.’
Mr Trump also suggested the ‘ridiculous’ idea had been put about by Mr Corbyn in the first place.
Tories vented their fury after Thursday’s 10pm bulletin did not include Mr Trump’s denial but did feature a tweeted riposte from the Labour leader that ‘it was Trump who said in June the NHS is on the table’. Monmouth MP David Davies fumed: ‘It is one thing for Labour to spin the lie – as they have done in every Election campaign since 1987 – that a Tory Government will sell off the NHS. But it is quite another for the BBC to give credence to this utter falsehood in their reporting, especially in relation to ridiculous suggestions that Boris Johnson will flog it to Donald Trump after Brexit.’
He added: ‘President Trump made it crystal clear last Thursday that the US “wouldn’t even be involved” in the NHS.
‘How come that very important r e ma r k wa s n ’ t reported on the BBC’s News at Ten on Thursday evening?’
Mr Davies was backed up by Cleethorpes Tory MP Martin Vickers, who added: ‘ I suspect that Jeremy Corbyn was delighted with the coverage.’
He added that as the national broadcaster, the BBC ‘cannot leave itself open to accusations of Labour-friendly bias. But I’m afraid that last week’s coverage did precisely that.’
BBC sources pointed out that in the report, political editor Laura Kuenssberg did say the Tories ‘are adamant they do not have plans to trade away the Health Service’.
However, the Tories also raised concerns over her deputy, Mr Pienaar, who, in a review of Labour’s policies, said: ‘Jeremy Corbyn has offered real change and his plans for rights and rewards for people at work certainly offer that.’
But a BBC source said it was clear that Mr Pienaar was referring to the scale of change proposed by Labour and that he was not signalling any approval.
Thursday’s report led on what the BBC described as Mr Trump’s ‘extraordinary attack’ on Mr Corbyn in which the President heaped praise on Mr Johnson and said the Labour leader would be ‘so bad’ for the country.
Last night, the BBC stood by the News at Ten package.
A spokesman said: ‘ The BBC reports impartially and features a wide range of different perspectives across our news coverage. Our journalists report independently without fear or favour.’
Last night, Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘It is desperate and hysterical of the Tories to try to suppress news of the Trump-Johnson NHS sell-out plot by attacking the BBC.’