BBC presenter Martine Croxall broke impartiality rules after she heard that Boris Johnson would not be standing as Conservative Party leader, the broadcaster has ruled. Croxall, 53, was taken off air following the episode on October 23 amid claims she showed bias on an episode of The Papers.
The BBC said that “several remarks and reactions” she made caused a “significant risk” that the audience could believe “opinions were being expressed” on the Conservative leadership contest. Her comments were made during an episode of The Papers, in which members of the press and experts look at how the main stories of the day were covered
She said: “Well this is all very exciting, isn’t it?” adding: “Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well I am.”
The programme started around 90 minutes after Mr Johnson pulled out of the Tory leadership race. In her first question to her guests, Croxall also remarked: “Can we even show you the front pages just yet, have they arrived? No, they haven’t arrived.
“It’s all a little bit, you know, lastminute.com isn’t it? Because all the front pages were probably out of date by the time we received them.”
After reviewing viewer complaints, the BBC said in a statement on Thursday: “In this programme several remarks and reactions from the presenter caused a significant risk that the audience could believe opinions were being expressed on the Conservative leadership contest. In addition, there was insufficient counter and challenge to some of the opinions expressed by guests on the programme.
“Taken together, this meant that this edition of The Papers did not meet our editorial standards, as it gave the audience the opportunity to infer an editorial position on the part of the BBC.”
It added: “This does not accord with the BBC’s commitment to editorial impartiality.”
The episode also saw Croxall suggest that her comments could have breached BBC guidelines. Responding to a guest’s joke aimed at Mr Johnson, she said: “I shouldn’t probably (laugh). I’m probably breaking some terrible impartiality rule by giggling.”
Some viewers, including several Tory MPs, reacting to a clip on social media, complained it displayed bias. Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries said on Twitter: “This lack of impartiality demonstrates how deep-seated the bias is.”
Croxall will be back on air from Friday and internal processes have been undertaken to ensure editorial requirements are fully understood.
