MEMBERS of the Conservative Party have demanded an apology from the BBC after Joe Lycett mocked Liz Truss following her interview with Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday.
The comedian sarcastically applauded Truss and could be heard shouting “you smashed it Liz”, once the interview finished.
He then went on to mock the lack of clarity shown by Truss when she outlined her plans to tackle the energy crisis.
The BBC’s decision to invite Lycett on has sparked outrage within the Tory party. One senior source said: “That’s supposed to be a serious political programme. I think it made Laura Kuenssberg look stupid … I think it’s absurd.
“How could that possibly be the right thing for the BBC to do. If I was the BBC I would issue an apology and say we got it wrong, we made a mistake and we will go back to being a serious political programme.”
The furore made the Daily Mail's front page - prompting Lycett to suggest he'd be getting the image framed as soon as possible.
And despite anger from the Tories, Lycett received praise from many, including Labour MP Jess Phillips, who said on Twitter: “I’m biased for sure, but refusing to take the deeply unserious performance and proposals from Liz Truss seriously showed exactly how seriously Joe Lycett thinks politics and the energy crisis is.
I'm biased for sure, but refusing to take the deeply unserious performance and proposals from Liz Truss seriously showed exactly how seriously Joe Lycett thinks politics and the energy crisis is. His performance was better and more honest than Truss by a country mile.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) September 4, 2022
“His performance was better and more honest than Truss by a country mile.”
Senior sources at the BBC have defended the decision to book Lycett for the show. One source said it needed “levity” and that there would be “people of all views over time”.
They added: “It’s important that impartiality isn’t seen as balance in one show. That’s not the objective and never was.
“You show me a launch programme that gets every tiny detail right on day one.”
The BBC has previously come under fire for "conveniently" cutting off Lycett's criticsm of the UK Government.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of this year's Commonwealth Games, Lycett said: “I’m going to do something now that the British government doesn’t always do, and welcome some foreigners, this time from the region of Asia.”
The clip, which went out on social media following the comment, cut off before the joke about the UK Government's policy.
It is not the first time criticism of the UK Government has caused controversy among Conservatives.
Back when Tim Davie took over as director-general of the broadcaster in September 2020, it was reported in The Telegraph that he was planning to tackle “left-wing” BBC comedy.
And in March 2021, satirical comedy show The Mash Report, hosted by Nish Kumar, was axed after accusations of it being “left-wing propaganda” by veteran journalist Andrew Neil.
Kumar was also amongst those to praise Lycett for his appearance on Sunday’s show. He said on social media: "Stop putting comedians on politics shows and leave it to serious people like Liz Truss whose plan for resolving the energy crisis is advise households to generate heat by huddling together and jacking it to pictures of Thatcher."
Stop putting comedians on politics shows and leave it to serious people like Liz Truss whose plan for resolving the energy crisis is advise households to generate heat by huddling together and jacking it to pictures of Thatcher.
— Nish Kumar (@MrNishKumar) September 4, 2022
In August, former Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis said there was an “active agent of the Conservative Party” who was shaping the corporation’s news content.
She raised concerns during a lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival where she said the BBC had actively tried to “pacify” No 10 after she slated Dominic Cummings for his trip to Barnard Castle during lockdown.
A BBC spokesperson said at the time that they placed “the highest value on due impartiality”.
