The Editorial Guidelines say the BBC should not automatically assume that contributors from outside organisations (such as academics, journalists, researchers and representatives of charities and think-tanks) are unbiased.  Appropriate information about their affiliations, funding and particular viewpoints should be made available to the audience, when relevant to the context.  In this case the discussion was about the Government’s U-turn on its decision to cut the top rate of income tax.  Mr Littlewood was introduced as the Director-General of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the organisation was described as “a free market think tank”.  It was clear from his contribution that he was in favour of the original proposal to abolish the 45p rate for those earning more than £150,000.  In the ECU’s judgment the description given by the programme provided listeners with appropriate information about Mr Littlewood and the position of his organisation to judge his contribution, and the information that the IEA does not disclose all its sources of funding would not have materially affected their ability to do so.

In the interview Mr Littlewood also expressed his concern at the implication of this U-turn for other Government policy.  It was in that context that his remarks about Liz Truss needed to be understood.  In the ECU’s view it was clear Mr Littlewood was suggesting he thought the Prime Minister’s credibility was under threat and that listeners would have understood he considered her to be someone who stuck to her guns, albeit that he believed her position had been undermined by the tax policy U-turn in the face of opposition from Tory backbench MPs.  In the context of the discussion, there was therefore no requirement to challenge this view or draw attention to occasions when Ms Truss may have changed her mind in the past.
Not Upheld