Outspoken Tory critic gets top BBC news job
The BBC confirmed yesterday the hugely controversial appointment of a senior executive who has been accused of sharing ‘biased’ Left-wing views on social media.
After weeks of speculation, it was announced that Jess Brammar will start this month in the newly created role of executive news editor.
The 38-year-old will oversee the corporation’s two 24-hour channels, BBC World News and BBC News. She was previously editor-in-chief of news site HuffPost UK and deputy editor of BBC Two’s Newsnight.
Whitehall sources voiced suspicions that the announcement was made during a major Government’s reshuffle to ‘bury’ the news.
The BBC’s chairman Richard Sharp unexpectedly revealed the appointment as he answered questions at the Royal Television Society’s Cambridge Convention yesterday.
he said that ‘individual recruiting should be on merit and Jess got there on merit’. The controversy was prompted by Twitter posts by Miss Brammar, now deleted, in which she accused Boris Johnson, Donald Trump and Nigel Farage of a ‘sleight of hand’ in persuading people they represented outsiders.
In another, she claimed there was an ‘influential camp’ at No10 which ‘doesn’t want to reach out to minorities and work with them’.
Sir Robbie Gibb, who was Theresa May’s communications chief when she was PM and now sits on the BBC board, reportedly tried to block the appointment in June when Miss Brammar emerged as the favoured candidate. he is said to have been concerned that it would damage trust with the Government.
Leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg has alluded to the potential hire, saying the BBC employing journalists from Left-wing outlets ‘damages’ the ‘whole perception’ of independence.
The corporation stressed last night that the appointment was made through a ‘fair and open competition’.
But a government source told the Daily Mail: ‘What’s the saying about a good day to bury
bad news?’ Julian Knight, the Tory chairman of the Commons digital, culture, media and sport committee, said there would be scrutiny of the appointment in the weeks ahead. He warned: ‘This was long on the cards. I think, though there will be many who will be watching the news output with her at the helm with real interest from here on in to ensure that [BBC directorgeneral] Tim Davie’s promise of better impartiality is more than just fine words.’
Among the pledges Mr Davie made after taking up the post last year was cracking down on staff who share their political views on Twitter. The BBC’s outgoing news chief Fran Unsworth defended
Miss Brammar’s appointment in an email to staff. She told them: ‘In view of recent public speculation about BBC News appointments, there are a couple of points I want to make.
‘BBC News has to be impartial and independent. BBC journalists are hired from a variety of different backgrounds, but while working at the BBC they leave any personal opinions at the door.
‘Any individual should be judged on how they do their job at the BBC, not on what they have done in different organisations with very different objectives.
‘It is extremely disappointing that anyone should receive public or personal criticism – or online abuse – simply for applying for a job at the BBC.’
Last week Miss Unsworth revealed she was leaving the corporation amid the continuing controversy over Miss Brammar.
Senior sources said she’d ‘had enough’ of the ‘no-win job’.
Miss Brammar wrote on Twitter after the appointment was confirmed yesterday: ‘Some personal news (a divisive phrase, I know!) – couldn’t be more thrilled to be joining such an incredibly talented team, on and off air.’
The BBC put a formal announcement on its website about the appointment, saying Miss Brammar had ‘wide-ranging experience in broadcasting’. She has also worked as a producer for ITV News. Mr Sharp was asked yesterday about Sir Robbie’s concerns. He replied: ‘Everybody has their own opinions. The question is do they have individual objectivity.’
The new BBC chairman also spoke during the session about the importance of the BBC fighting ‘against the risk of groupthink’ and said the media industry had been ‘incredibly metropolitan’.
Miss Brammar had a son called Jude last year with her partner Jim Waterson, 31, the Guardian’s media editor.
He broke the story about the police being called to a row in 2019 between Boris Johnson and his then girlfriend Carrie Symonds at her flat in south London.