If Emily’s free to speak out, why can’t I?

CAN I just explain something to the broadcaster Emily Maitlis, now moaning about being mildly reproved for an obviously nonimpartial outburst on the BBC, when she used to work there?

The BBC is heavily biased towards her Left-liberal view. Senior BBC figures, from former boss Mark Thompson to major former presenters such as Andrew Marr and John Humphrys, all admit that the Corporation seethes with Lefty liberalism. Newsnight, the programme on which Ms Maitlis famously let rip against Dominic Cummings, is no exception.

Ms Maitlis’s attack on Mr Cummings just went a bit too far even for the BBC, and she was gently rebuked, not bundled off into the outer darkness.

In the BBC which I would like to see, Ms Maitlis should be allowed to say what she likes. But so should people like me, who are kept to the margins of broadcasting. Neither of us should be required to pretend we are impartial. But if people such as me were allowed to behave on air as she did, I suspect Ms Maitlis would be among the first to flood the BBC with enraged complaints. The liberal elite wants freedom for its own view. I want true impartiality. Not the pretence of it.