Equality chief at centre of row over Channel 4 ‘Left-wing bias’

Campaign groups write to Ofcom of ‘guilty before proven innocent’ approach in reporting trans ‘coup’

‘We need to look into what’s happened and who breached. We need a proper investigation’

CHANNEL 4 has been accused of Leftwing bias over its reporting of an attempted “coup” by trans activists to overthrow Britain’s equality chief.

Baroness Falkner of Margravine, 68, the chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), is at the centre of an internal row after her own officials filed a dossier of complaints about her alleging “bullying”, “discrimination” and “harassment”. Insiders have turned on Channel 4 News after it broadcast an alleged “polemic” about the chairman on Tuesday night which, they say, took a “guilty before proven innocent” approach.

The Daily Telegraph understands that several campaign groups are sending impartiality complaint letters to Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, including LGB Alliance who claim that the show “assumed that LGBT groupthink represents all of us” in the gay community.

The Telegraph learnt yesterday night that 40 parliamentarians are writing to Ofcom and Channel 4 to complain.

Lady Falkner said in a statement that she has “every confidence in being exonerated” and has neither been interviewed nor had any formal employment complaints filed against her.

The programme’s 10-minute report included anonymous jibes from what Channel 4 claimed was more than 20 current and former staff members, without saying how many still worked there and all voiced by actors.

The staff complaints included that they were “on calls where staff were crying” and that “we’ve been politically compromised at the very top of the organisation” and it was engaging in “an attempt to undermine [trans] rights”.

Cathy Newman, the presenter, reported that there had been a “flood of resignations” including a quarter of staff leaving last year and seven senior departures, without stating the EHRC has more than 200 staff, with insiders saying this was “hardly surprising.

Channel 4 interviewed Emma Laslett, a transgender quiz show contestant who described an alleged remark from Lady Falkner during a board meeting – that she was a “bloke in lipstick” –as “disgusting” and suggested she was “not fit for the job”.

However, the show, which has previously been embroiled in Left-wing bias rows, did not mention that Baroness Falkner’s allies insist this remark was taken “out of context” because she was in fact describing the abuse of trans people. Viewers were still told that she was allegedly “rebuked” by Marcial Boo, the EHRC’S chief executive.

While both Ms Laslett and Caroline Noakes, a liberal Tory MP, were interviewed taking aim at Baroness Falkner, no one backing the peer was featured.

Lady Falkner’s statement was cut by more than half, with her insistence that she is “presenting a detailed rebuttal” removed from the middle of a sentence.

Senior insiders have rounded on the programme. A senior EHRC source said: “After the shock among many at the EHRC at the extent and prejudice of the disclosure to Channel 4, we need to look into what’s happened and who has leaked – we need a proper process and an investigation into who has breached the process to pre-empt a full investigation. It is guilty before proven innocent – the whole thing has to be reviewed”.

A second senior EHRC source said: “Clearly, many of the points made in the programme are either out of context or rebuttable in some way.”

A spokesman for Channel 4 News said: “We stand by our reporting. Lady Falkner was also given the opportunity to appear on last night’s programme .”