How dare Labour MP call me racist? I fired him at the BBC because he’s a political dunce
A FORMER BBC boss last night demanded an apology from a Labour MP who claimed he was denied the chance to be a BBC presenter because of ‘racism’.
Tim Bishop, former head of BBC East, spoke out after Norwich Labour MP Clive Lewis said an unnamed manager at BBC East, where Lewis worked as a journalist for ten years, had kept him off screen for ‘racist’ reasons.
Mr Bishop said he believed he was the manager Mr Lewis was referring to – and insisted that the allegation was totally false. Moreover, Mr Bishop said he fired Mr Lewis as a political reporter because he failed a basic political general knowledge test – and he made no effort to get a job as a presenter.
Another BBC insider said when Mr Lewis was invited to present a weekend political programme, he overslept – missing part of the broadcast – and was not asked again.
And a female BBC journalist said that when unmarried Mr Lewis worked for Look East he made a rude remark about Norwich on an internet dating site. Mr Bishop hit back after The Mail on Sunday revealed last week how Left-winger Mr Lewis, a member of Jeremy Corbyn’s front-bench team, said a ‘glass ceiling’ held back black staff on the BBC. An unnamed manager at BBC East told him he was ‘not what viewers were looking for’ – evidence of ‘racism,’ argued the MP.
But an angry Mr Bishop, 57, who was Mr Lewis’s boss for most of his time at BBC East, told this newspaper: ‘Clive owes me a personal apology and an apology to all of his colleagues at BBC East. I don’t believe any such incident happened.
‘He’s made some deeply offensive remarks. His career at the BBC was not wrecked by racism, quite the opposite. He was appointed on merit as were several ethnic minority presenters. We appointed Clive firstly as a journalist and then as our political correspondent. I don’t remember him ever working his socks off – as they all did – to become a presenter. He had no credentials for that job.’
Mr Bishop, who now runs a charity, said that, far from pushing to be promoted, Mr Lewis was effectively fired as a political reporter.
‘I did remove him as a political correspondent because he didn’t know enough about politics to do that job. The 2010 General Election was coming up and I called him in and said “You aren’t firing on all cylinders, you have got to know your stuff.” With his consent I set him a simple quiz, three basic questions. He got all three wrong.’
The three questions were all about Cabinet Minister John Whittingdale, MP for Maldon in Essex, part of BBC East’s region. Mr Lewis could not name the MP for Maldon; did not know Whittingdale chaired the Commons culture committee or that, when he worked for Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, he was a ‘dry’ [Thatcherite] Tory, not a ‘wet’ [antiThatcher]. ‘By the end I said, “You’re guessing,”’ recalled Mr Bishop. ‘He laughed and said, “You’re right, I was.” If he had genuinely experi- enced racism at the BBC, he would have complained at the time.’
A female journalist who worked for Look East said: ‘Clive fancied himself as a bit of player and he was on an internet dating site. His entry said something like “I’m based in London and Norwich but prefer London – Norwich is a bit of a backwater.”’
Mr Bishop was backed by former BBC Royal Correspondent Michael Cole, whose TV career started at BBC East in 1969. He said: ‘He should withdraw this unjustified slur.’ Mr Lewis last night denied Mr Bishop was the unnamed manager – but declined to say who that manager was. The MP said: ‘It is rubbish to state I was fired as a political reporter.’