Stephen Nolan had been lined up to chair the Tory leadership hustings in Northern Ireland but was absent from the event.
The BBC presenter had been named as the planned compere in a Conservative Party operational guidance note sent to some of the local press.
But when the hustings with leadership contenders Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak took place on Wednesday, Mr Nolan was not involved.
Read more: Conservative members in Northern Ireland on what they think of final two leadership contenders
Instead, Conservatives co-chair Andrew Stephenson led the proceedings at the Culloden Hotel outside Belfast.
The BBC said Mr Nolan's involvement in the hustings "had not been finalised in all of its aspects".
It said its presenters are "routinely invited to take part in external events".
Other hustings on the Tory leadership campaign trail have been hosted by high-profile broadcasters such as Talk TV presenter Tom Newton Dunn and LBC's Nick Ferrari.
The hosts would conduct sit-down interviews with each of the candidates before inviting questions from the audience.
But at the Northern Ireland hustings Mr Stephenson did not interview the candidates, instead only opening the floor to questions.
The Conservative Party was asked what had happened to Mr Nolan's mooted involvement, but it did not respond to requests for a comment.
In a statement a BBC Northern Ireland spokeswoman said: "Stephen Nolan and other BBC presenters are routinely invited to take part in external events.
"Stephen's involvement in this particular event had not been finalised in all of its aspects.
"We’ve carried detailed coverage of what has been said by both Conservative leadership candidates across our local news services."
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