The BBC should “stand up for itself more”, Sir Tony Blair has suggested amid the furore following allegations made against Huw Edwards, as broadcaster bosses were claimed this weekend to have warned staff that “gossip will not be tolerated”.
With the BBC still facing questions – and a grilling in parliament next week – over its handling of allegations against its star presenter, published by The Sun and its own news programmes, new polling suggested a slim majority of the public felt the broadcaster had dealt with the situation “badly”.
Earlier this week, the veteran broadcaster’s wife named him as the BBC presenter at the centre of claims published by the tabloid of paying an individual large sums of money for illicit photographs, following days of rampant speculation over their identity.
Having previously urged the then-unnamed presenter to reveal themselves, presenter Jeremy Vine revealed on Sunday that he had secured an apology from an individual over admittedly “baseless” claims on Twitter linking him to the story, and a pledge to donate £1,000 to a motor neurone disease charity.
While The Sun vowed not to publish any more allegations about Mr Edwards in the wake of Vicky Flind’s statement that her husband Mr Edwards was receiving inpatient mental health care, with police confirming there was no evidence of criminality on his part and the BBC continuing an internal investigation, fresh claims about the presenter were later published by BBC outlets.
These included allegations from three current and former BBC employees who claimed to have been sent messages which made them uncomfortable, and from an individual who allegedly received menacing messages from the presenter when they suggested they might name him after he contacted them on a dating app.
Giving his verdict, former BBC correspondent Jon Sopel, now of the News Agents podcast, claimed to have been contacted by a “surprisingly large number of staff – some senior, very senior, some junior – about how distraught they were at some of the BBC coverage”.
Suggesting there had “been considerable disquiet over the way the coverage has unfolded”, Mr Sopel said: “Huw is employed by BBC News. So for the managers to say, ‘Well, no, we’re just interested in the journalism and we’re not interested in the duty of care …’, It’s just Alice in Wonderland. It’s very difficult to make sense of.”
BBC newsreader Huw Edwards will respond to the allegations once well enough to do so, his wife has said— ( Chris Jackson/PA)
It came as The Mirror reported claims by a BBC source, who claimed that bosses had issued staff with a stern email denouncing potentially harmful gossip, which they said was intended “very clearly to contain the situation and stop BBC staff fuelling the fire that had been blazing since the story broke”.
“Members of staff were told clearly that gossip could be damaging, and would not be tolerated,” the source added. “The situation was described as ‘delicate.’ And the warning shot on their part seemed to work, as people mostly did keep quiet about the situation and didn’t share their opinions.”
Meanwhile, Survation polling for the paper found that 53 per cent of respondents wanted to see Mr Edwards return to the News at Ten if he is cleared by bosses of serious wrongdoing, while 51 per cent believed the BBC had handled the situation either “quite badly” or “very badly”.
BBC director-general Tim Davie is almost certain to face direct questioning about the saga this week, as he and other senior figures appear at a pre-arranged House of Lords communications committee session on Tuesday.
Asked by Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme about the crisis, former prime minister Sir Tony defended the broadcaster as “a great British institution” with significant reputational heft overseas.
The BBC should “stand up for itself a bit more”, Sir Tony Blair said— (PA Wire)
“Of course these things will hit them from time to time but I don’t think it means that the whole of the BBC is now a bad institution,” the ex-premier said, adding: “Frankly, the BBC should stand up for itself a bit more, to be blunt about it.
“Given our need to make sure we keep as much of a position of power in the world as we can, so whatever my disagreements from time to time, I still basically support it,” Sir Tony continued.
With The Sun also facing scrutiny after the 23-year-old alleged victim in its initial front-page report accused the paper of failing to include his forthright rejection of the allegations made by his parents against Mr Edwards, union boss Mick Lynch labelled the British press a “disgrace” and called for more media regulation.
The rules should be tightened to “protect the individual”, the RMT general-secretary told the Politics Joe website on Saturday, as he claimed the media will “hound and chase everybody that they can if they think it suits their agenda”.
Mick Lynch hit out at the British press as ‘a disgrace’— (Lucy North/PA)
Meanwhile, The Sunday Times carried claims of there being an impression among some at the BBC that Mr Edwards “wasn’t really managed” and did not deal with “lesser people” but would instead wander into director-general Tim Davie’s office at will.
“You do get treated with a weirdly exaggerated sense of grandeur, you get people who are just enthralled by the idea of meeting you,” an unnamed senior presenter told the paper.
“Huw will never have gone anywhere without people falling over him. What you need is careful management that keeps an eye on that.”
The BBC has been contacted for comment. In her statement, Ms Flind said Mr Edwards was “suffering from serious mental health issues”, with recent events having “greatly worsened” the severe depression for which he has been treated in recent years, resulting in him requiring in-patient hospital care.
“Once well enough to do so, he intends to respond to the stories that have been published,” the statement said, adding: “In the circumstances and given Huw’s condition I would like to ask that the privacy of my family and everyone else caught up in these upsetting events is respected.”
