The Daily Telegraph

I used to defend the BBC. Now I’m switching off

The Today programme in particular has given up all pretence of presenting an objective point of view

- MICHAEL HOWARD READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/ opinion Lord Howard of Lympne is a former leader of the Conservati­ve Party

For many years, I have adopted a very unfashiona­ble and unpopular attitude among Conservati­ves. I have defended the BBC. I have done so, despite its pronounced and well-documented bias, for a very particular reason. It has, I believe, played a crucial role in unifying our country and helping to stave off the kind of split society that we see, most conspicuou­sly, in the United States.

There, you tend to watch either Fox or CNN, according to your political beliefs. Increasing­ly, people tend to live in communitie­s where they are unlikely even to meet those whose views differ from their own. America has become a polarised society and, although there are some signs that the same thing is beginning to happen here, there is still hope that we can avoid it.

As our national broadcaste­r, despite the increasing competitio­n from other outlets including the internet, the BBC can, and should, provide at least a common starting point for a civilised dialogue among those who disagree with each other. As long as the Today programme, for example, is – or was – listened to by a majority of opinion formers, that common starting point was a valuable element in inhibiting the polarisati­on, or even lack, of debate that has become a feature of American life.

But my patience has now come to an end. The Today programme, in particular, has completely crossed the boundary from which it could previously have been regarded as a plausibly authoritat­ive, if biased, guide to the national discourse to a place where it seems to have given up all pretence to an objective point of view.

The final straw, for me, was Nick Robinson’s interview with Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccine minister, on Tuesday of this week. Tuesday was, of course, the day when the Government announced its proposals for the reform of social care. But as Mr Robinson well knew, the details had to be announced to Parliament before they could be broadcast. Indeed, had this convention been broken and caused a reprimand from the Speaker, the BBC’S journalist­s would have been the first, gleefully, to point to the Government’s discomfort.

Yet when Mr Zahawi attempted to explain this and said that he had come on to the programme to discuss the £5.4billion which had just been announced for the NHS, Mr Robinson said that this was a complete waste of time and threatened to end the interview there and then.

You and I may think that listeners would have been very interested to know how this money was going to be spent, but not a single question was addressed to that topic. Instead Mr Robinson spent the whole interview berating the minister for not doing what Mr Robinson knew full well he couldn’t do.

So what can a disillusio­ned and frustrated listener do about this? It is no use complainin­g to the BBC, as I have found from experience. But there is one thing that I, and those who think like me, can do: we can stop listening.

Perhaps I am naive but I assume that the powers that be in the BBC do pay some attention to listening figures. There are a number of alternativ­e radio stations and I have decided to switch.

I urge those of you who think like me to do the same.

I should make clear that my objective is not to boost the ratings of these other radio stations. I want the BBC to recover its role as an authoritat­ive, respected and objective national voice, making the most of its potential to be a unifying influence in the face of all those forces that are driving us apart.

I knew Mr Robinson when I was in the political front line and rather liked him, even to the extent that I was prepared to forgive him for supporting Manchester United. But since he has assumed the role of the Today programme’s main rottweiler, a role previously filled with far more grace and objectivit­y by John Humphrys, he has changed.

And even if I fail to achieve my objective, at least I shall be spared the daily irritation of listening to the insufferab­ly self-important presenter Mr Robinson has now become.

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