Complaint
A viewer complained that two out of four panellists were Conservative supporters, which was in breach of the BBC’s Election Guidelines, and that viewers were led to believe that one of them (Tim Montgomerie) was more independent of the Conservative Party than was in fact the case. Noting that the Election Guidelines had not come into effect by the date of transmission, the ECU considered the complaint in the light of the BBC’s general standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The selection of panellists is a matter for the editorial discretion of the programme-makers, and the ECU can only concern itself with whether the contents of the programme were duly impartial. In this instance, the panel consisted of a Conservative minister, a Labour shadow minister, a Liberal Democrat MP and Mr Montgomerie, who was introduced as “A Conservative thinker and influencer” who had “created the independent online magazine of the Tory faithful, ConservativeHome”. In the ECU’s judgement this sufficed to indicate the nature of his relationship with the Conservative Party, while his contributions to the programme, which were critical of politicians of all parties for what he saw as lack of engagement with the big issues facing the country, did not compromise the overall impartiality of the programme.
Not Upheld