In a post last Sunday, we discussed the decision by Radio 4's Broadcasting House to choose a former advisor to Boris Johnson, the second a former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn and the third a former advisor to Nick Clegg - i.e. a Conservative, a Labour supporter and a Liberal Democrat supporter - to be their 'special advisors' throughout the general election. and wondered how fair that was (i.e. did it overpromote the Lib Dems?).
There's another problem. It turns out, as revealed this morning (out of her own mouth), that the former advisor to Boris Johnson (Jo Tanner) is not a Conservative at all. She said she'd never been in the party and tended to take a "neutral" position on things like manifestos. She then poured a huge bucket cold water over the manifesto of "the Tories", and Paddy then noted her as describing herself as "not a natural Conservative". The former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn (Simon Fletcher), in contrast, is a Labour Party member on the far-left of the party and close to Mr Corbyn, so guess what? Yes, he pronounced his party's manifesto "a big success" and praised Jeremy Corbyn. Is that fair?
Is Broadcasting House going to keep Jo Tanner for the duration of the election, knowing what they now know (if they didn't already know)? Shouldn't they replace her with a Conservative supporter?
