CLIVE Myrie was kicked off BBC News at Ten because of jokes he made about Boris Johnson while hosting a comedy show, it has emerged.
Myrie was removed from the programme last Friday at the last minute when content chief Charlotte Moore became worried about accusations of anti-Tory bias arising from his role as presenter of Have I Got News For You earlier that evening.
Myrie made several jibes about the former prime minister throughout the programme.
He opened the show saying: "After being found by the House of Commons committee to have lied repeatedly, Boris Johnson takes the opportunity to deny that he’s ever been jogging or has a dog.”
A film was then shown of Johnson running with his Jack Russell cross.
He also reassured Helen Lewis, a journalist on the panel, that there would be time to discuss Johnson’s “mad” honours list.
At one point Ian Hislop told the audience: “You’ll remember you were here for the end of Clive Myrie’s career.”
Paul Merton added: “Or the beginning of a new rise.”
Jane Hill was brought in as a replacement on the news after the satirical show was screened at 9pm.
The concern is understood to have been releated to Myrie's back-to-back appearances on Have I Got News for You and then the late bulletin.
"There wasn’t a specific joke which triggered the request,” an insider told The Times.
“It was more to do with concerns that Clive was doing two very different types of programme within an hour of each other. There was possibly a bit of over-caution, which felt a bit over the top to most people in news.”
A BBC executive said: “It didn’t feel right for Clive to go almost straight to the news when he’d just been making jokes. It was a tonal thing rather than due to anyone being overly anxious."
Myrie has hosted the show four times while Naga Munchetty, the BBC Breakfast presenter, took her first edition this month.
