The boss of the BBC privately met with the Tory Party’s 1922 committee to discuss the broadcaster. At the meeting, MPs grilled director general Tim Davie over the BBC‘s coverage of the Hamas attacks on Israel, and Israel’s subsequent war crimes in Gaza. The main topic of this discussion was the broadcaster’s refusal to brand Hamas ‘terrorists’.
Of course, it’s no surprise Davie attended a private Tory Party meeting – given he was a prominent Conservative himself. However, it appears MPs metaphorically gave him a thrashing in an attempt to turn the BBC into some sort of GB News imitation.
BBC boss having private meetings with Tory MPs
As Sky News reported, Davie attended the 1922 Committee on Wednesday 25 October:
Speaking to journalists before and after the meeting, a BBC spokesperson said Mr Davie visited the committee after it was arranged in July as part of regular discussions with parliamentarians.
The spokesman said Mr Davie would have “tackled head-on some of the criticisms that he will undoubtedly have had in the room” and stressed “why the institution matters”.
‘Regular discussions with parliamentarians’ usually involve going before select committees or ministers. They don’t involve going to private, partisan, party-political old boys’ clubs. This is, however, former Tory Party councillor candidate Tim Davie, who – as Byline Times‘s Adam Bienkov pointed out – also works with another former Tory at the BBC:
Just the Director General of the BBC meeting privately with Conservative MPs in order to reassure them that a former Conservative adviser and Downing Street Director of Communications is now in charge of reviewing how they cover immigration pic.twitter.com/8QUVHGIS4Y
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) October 26, 2023
Lee Anderson had a ‘face like thunder’. Is that not his usual face?
At the meeting, Sky News reported that the BBC‘s coverage of Hamas was discussed. The Sun‘s political editor/gossip columnist and all-round right-wing foghorn Harry Cole noted that, when one minister asked Davie to change the BBC‘s policy on calling the group ‘terrorists’, Davie “rebuffed” him:
DG says nobody has banned word “terrorist”.
Heckled by Jill Mortimer to ask “do you think their terrorists?”
Says he won’t say as “not appropriate”
Says consider impact on “young moderate Palestinians hearing “generalisation”rather than “specifics” –
Source: “he lost room”
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) October 25, 2023
Meanwhile, the Tory deputy chairman Lee ’30p’ Anderson slammed Davie’s appearance after walking out reportedly with a “face like thunder”. We’re not sure how you tell the difference between that and his resting face, mind. Regardless, Anderson told the Express:
Mr Davie should cancel his TV licence as he obviously does not watch his own channels.
The BBC is suffering from a cost of confidence crisis.
Of course, far-right dullard Anderson knows all about journalistic values – given he works for GB News, which currently facing 12 investigations by regulator Ofcom for potential impartiality rule breaches. 30p Lee’s comments were similar to that of other Tory MPs at the meeting. Clearly, right-wing Davie is no longer right wing enough for some Tories.
Little wonder, then, that he also revealed the BBC is reviewing how it reports on refugees. That is, the Tories think the broadcaster is too sympathetic:
Loud cheers of more and table banging as Natalie Elphike slams BBC coverage of small boats.
Davie says Sir Robbie Gibb – ex no10 comms now BBC board – is involved in reviewing how they report on migration
— Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) October 25, 2023
This point, and the Tories’ outrage at the BBC‘s coverage of Hamas, sum up the problem.
Pushing Aunty into the shit-drenched abyss of GB News
Davie is hardly a woke brocialist – nor is the BBC left-leaning. It is a state broadcaster in all but name – serving as a government mouthpiece since its inception. However, for the far-right mob that’s taken over the Tory Party, even this is no longer good enough.
Clearly, the likes of Anderson think the already-compromised BBC should descend into the immoral, shit-drenched abyss that GB News inhabits – where far-right talking points are passed off as impartial news and Tory MPs interview Tory MPs like that’s a perfectly normal thing for a TV broadcaster to do.
It comes to something when Davie – an arch-Tory through and through – looks moderately reasonable in the face of the current, talentless dregs of the Conservative Party that now masquerade as MPs. But, here we are.
The BBC: a withered, zombified corpse of the British empire
No doubt before Rishi Sunak and the rest of the sewer-pipe detritus we now call the Tories are booted out of office, they’ll make sure the BBC is further under the right-wing thumb than it already is. Then, the new wave of Tories – disguised as the Labour Party – will take over and probably continue this trend.
But who cares, anyway?
The BBC died a death years ago. Arguably, its news and current affairs coverage has never actually been truly alive – being more a journalistic Frankenstein’s monster of the British empire.
However, the Tories are not even hammering the final nail into its coffin. No – they’re trying to turn the BBC into a zombie bride of GB News.
If these far-right miscreants get their way, the broadcaster’s withered cadaver will wail ‘public service broadcasting’ for the final time. Then, journalistic standards will draw their last breath, Aunty will be damned for all eternity – and Davie will be forced to appoint Anderson as host of Question Time.
Good riddance, really – but even by the BBC‘s standards, the Tories have taken things too far this time.
Featured image via BBC News – YouTube
By Steve Topple
This post was originally published on Canary.
