Did Mishal Husain lie during her Jacob Rees-Mogg interview?

I know that some of you heard this interview from yesterday's Today:

Mishal Husain: I want to ask you finally about what you did the other day in re-tweeting and drawing attention to something the AfD had put out. I know you've been asked about this quite a few times and you've said so far that you don't agree with everything that they stand for but that you wanted to draw attention to this. But you have nevertheless chosen to shine a spotlight on a party whose core principles are anti-immigration, anti-Islam, whose leader in the German parliament's views include Germany being overrun by Arabs and Roma. Is there nothing in that that gives you pause for thought, that at least you should clarify what you put out and say you don't support their other beliefs?

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Well, I think this is typical of the BBC's obsession, dare I say it the Today programme's obsession, about this. And Mr. Naughtie quite shamefully said the other week that the ERG was like the National Front in France, which we most certainly...

Mishal Husain: (interrupting) He was quoting someone else, as I'm sure you know.
Jacob Rees-Mogg: No, he wasn't. He said it himself. It was his view. And he's a BBC person. He's paid by licence fee...

Mishal Husain: (interrupting) How about answering the question...

Jacob Rees-Mogg: I'm coming to the question...

Mishal Husain: ...about which of the AfD's principles you believe in?

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Hold on, hold on, you must be patient and not interrupt so much because the answer needs to be given properly. The BBC does have this obsession. What Mr. Naughtie said was an outrageous slur, and he wasn't challenged by whoever it was who was interviewing him. That wasn't raised, which seems to me a matter of competence...

Mishal Husain: (interrupting) Again, again, again, it wasn't his view.

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Well, it was a view he expressed...

Mishal Husain: (interrupting) The AfD stands for anti immigration and anti-Islam...

Jacob Rees-Mogg: Hold on, hold on, just a moment. When Mr. Naughtie quotes somebody and it's not his view that's fine, but when I quote somebody and it's not my view that's a great shock. And that seems to me typical of the Today programme's lefty approach,...

Mishal Husain: (interrupting) Jacob Rees-Mogg...

Jacob Rees-Mogg: ... an obsession with this issue.

Mishal Husain: ...thank you so much. 

Jacob Rees-Mogg: And thank you so much.

Monkey Brains raised the following point on the open thread last night:

NISA on Biased BBC:
"In interview with JRM this morning was Mishal Husain (Toady) lying when she claimed Naughtie was quoting someone else when he stated that ERG was like Front National?
This clip from Guido would suggest she was, it sounds very much like his opinion.
https://order-order.com/2019/03/22/erg-slam-bbc-presenters-outrageous-claim-front-national/

That clip from Guido runs as follows:

In any other European country, the Conservative Party would not exist in its current form. The ERG, Jacob Rees-Mogg's group, in France would be in the National Front, because that's what they believe, and in Germany they would be in the AfD. It's only because of our system that the carapace of this party keeps them in. And I think on both sides of the aisle that can't last.

It's the one I quoted on an earlier post.

So did Mishal Husain lie?

Well, if you look back to the actual Today interview and give Jim Naughtie's answer in full, you find that he said the following:

My argument is, I think, that there things afoot that are going to change the system. Look, in the 1960s. as we both know, more than 90% of people voted Conservative or Labour - in, for example, the '64 general election. That figure is now down to the low 60s. And that's not going to change. Now, I'm not saying the Conservative Party is going to split overnight and disappear. Of course it's not. The same is true of Labour. But I think there are things afoot that cannot be corrected. Somebody put it to me the other day, look, in any other European country the Conservative Party wouldn't exist in its current form. The ERG, Jacob Rees Mogg's group, in France would be in the National Front, because that's what they believe, and in Germany they would be in the AfD. It's only because of our system that the carapace of this party keeps them in. And I think on both sides of the aisle that can't last.

Yes, the Guido clip that 'went viral' and, in time, led to James Naughtie giving a half-apology about it, began just after JN had said "Somebody put it to me other day".

So that's why Mishal Husain said that he was quoting somebody else. Because he was.

And thus, it was very naughty of Guido to edit it in that way and make it sound as if Jim Naughtie was giving his own view, undiluted.

So, yes, Mishal Husain wasn't lying.

But...

Of course, we all know the BBC and its use of "Some say" - degrees of separation, and all that. And it did sound to me as if Jim wasn't just reporting what that particular Somebody had said to him but was also endorsing it and making use of it to make a broader point of his own.

(And his use of "my argument" and "I think", for example, only adds to that impression.)

So, actually, Jim Naughtie probably was agreeing with what Somebody said about the ERG but he gave himself the perfect (very BBC) cover for so doing should any complaints come in about bias.

Any complaint to the BBC, therefore, would inevitably result in the BBC saying exactly what Mishal Husain said: "He was quoting someone else, as I'm sure you know."

And if anyone quotes Guido (or, indeed, me on this blog!), the BBC will say that it was an edited clip which omitted the start of James Naughtie's sentence - the bit that gave the (get-out-of-jail-free) context.