A BBC presenter just shut down a Labour MP. The reason? The politician had said that Boris Johnson “just lies”. Clearly facts are not allowed on the Beeb anymore.
The BBC: don’t mention the truth
BBC Politics East was discussing Matt Hancock’s resignation. Host Stewart White was speaking with Labour MP Daniel Zeichner and Tory MP Peter Bone. Specifically, the issue of social care came up. Zeichner said of Hancock’s role as health secretary:
There’s also, of course, the question of the huge failure on failing to integrate health and social care. If you remember, the Prime Minister told us two years ago he had a plan. But it got lost somewhere, didn’t it? Another lie.
White interrupted him, saying:
Hang on. Let me just stop you there. We have had a Covid Pandemic. Surely that had to take first place.
Zeichner was having none of it. He sprung back:
He said he had a plan in his pocket. All he had to do was pull it out of the pocket. We know he didn’t have. He just lies. That’s the prime minister we’ve got. That’s the problem.
This was too much for White (and probably the show’s producer, screaming in his ear). He rebuffed Zeichner, saying:
First of all, I can’t let you say that the Prime Minister has lied.
A viral video
Campaigning lawyer Peter Stefanovic had something to say about this. He tweeted that:
A BBC presenter on #BBCPoliticsEast just told a guest “I can’t let you say the Prime Minister has lied”
Meanwhile #BBC continue to refuse to report on an outraged public sending this film to 24.2 MILLION VIEWS in protest at the Prime Ministers rampant lying in Parliament https://t.co/vTH1yOQU1D
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) June 27, 2021
His video about Johnson’s lies to parliament has had over 24 millions views on Twitter alone. As Bywire News reported, the video:
has also been the inspiration behind a Parliamentary campaign – led by Green Party MP Caroline Lucas and supported by leading MPs from six of the seven opposition parties (Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said Labour wouldn’t support it because they don’t normally work with other parties) – calling on the Speaker of the House to grant an inquiry into the Prime Minister’s diabolically strained relationship with the truth.
Blatant fact: Johnson is a liar
It laid out Johnson’s untruths. These included:
Claim 5: On the 17th of June 2020, during PMQs [Prime Minister’s Questions], the Prime Minister said “There are hundreds of thousands, I think 400,000, fewer families living in poverty now than there were in 2010”.
The Truth: Johnson’s statement is entirely wrong. Both the Children’s Commissioner and the Office for Statistics Regulation have confirmed that the PM’s claim was not borne out of the actual figures, and was therefore not true.
Yet so far, the BBC has not reported on this issue. And now, its presenters seem to be actively shutting down any mention of what is blatant fact: Johnson has repeatedly lied to parliament. Sadly it seems all in a day’s work for our alleged public service broadcaster.
Featured image via BBC iPlayer – screengrab and Channel 4 News – YouTube