Front-page Rory

We've written on several occasions about the BBC's affection for one particular Tory - now an ex-Tory - namely, Rory Stewart. In the last Conservative leadership election, a remarkable range of BBC voices openly sang his praises [John Simpson, Gary Lineker, Quentin Somerville, John Sweeney, Danny Shaw] or retweeted praise [Emily Maitlis]. So this doesn't surprise me in the least:

Paul Embery: I very much hope that former MP Rory Stewart finds his wedding ring, but does the story really merit a place on the main BBC News page?

Adrian Hilton: You really couldn't find a much greater pointer to BBC bias than this. I, too, hope Rory Stewart finds his wedding ring, but he has no political status in the UK at all. If Jacob Rees Mogg had lost his wedding ring, it would have been totally ignored, or greeted with derision.

Not everyone agrees this is bias though:

Colin Garthwaite: How the hell is this bias? BTW, the BBC are ran by Tories. Stop talking BS!

Colin's Twitter bio reads #ScrapNHSBill #ProudToBeWoke #BLM #RefundTheBBC, so - despite the BBC being 'run by Tories' - he's proudly pro-BBC. Wonder what it is about the NHS-worshipping, pro-woke, pro-BLM BBC that so appeals to him?

The BBC News Channel falls for an April Fools' Day joke

 

Eight times between 12:12pm and 12:24pm yesterday, April 1st, the BBC News Channel repeatedly ran a bit of breaking news across its screen. 

They were reporting that one of Boris Johnson's arch-critics Rory Stewart was to become Number Ten Director of Communications. The news then disappeared without comment. 

The BBC, who have long had a soft spot for Rory, must have been reading his Twitter feed. He'd tweeted as an April Fools' Day joke:

It is an honour to have been asked by the PM to serve as Director of Communications for No 10 Downing Street. I am looking forward to working with the PM, Ministers and Members of Parliament on the issues that matter most to our country.

And the geniuses at Jess Brammar's new channel fell for it. 

The i reports:

A spokesperson for BBC News said it would not comment on the incident.

"Not very 2020"

The sainted Rory Stewart intends to run as in independent in the next London mayoral election and this morning's Today gave him a platform to help launch his bid. Justin Webb's lines of questioning were, however, very BBC, focusing as they did largely on identity politics. 

(P.S. If Sadiq Khan was listening I suspect he'd have been thinking nice thoughts about the BBC this morning!)

Here's a list of Justin's questions:

• Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, do you really want to topple him?
• (interrupting) Sadiq Khan's not an extremist.
• But surely the way to stop that happening would be for Sadiq Khan to be re-elected for him to be a powerful force in Labour and for him to carry on saying the kind of things, including critical things, about the Labour leadership that he has? You're actually damaging the cause you say you want to assist.
• You mention you're proud of the diversity of the mayoral race in London. You are a white guy, an old Etonian. It's not very 2020, is it really, to be challenging a black man who is the Conservative candidate and the Muslim mayor?
• (interrupting) You're saying, 'Don't elect them. Elect a white Etonion'?
• (interrupting) Kind of is what you're saying, isn't it, because you're standing?
• Right, and you don't think Sadiq Khan does this, do these things [get things done, be genuinely operational]?
• (interrupting) No, no, but I'm interested in...no, no, alright, no need to mention him as an individual, but you don't think that is being done at the moment? And I'm thinking of the ways Sadiq Khan has interacted with Donald Trump or stood up to him, etc, in other words the way in which he has represented the city and city's interests across the world, you don't think he's doing it well?

Update: The Daily Mail online has a headline story about this now. The headline won't please the BBC. Ah, they'll say, Justin Webb wasn't saying that at all. He was just 'playing devil's advocate'. But wasn't he actually 'playing BBC's advocate' here, which is even worse?

Anger as BBC Today presenter Justin Webb says Rory Stewart should not try to be London mayor because standing against black and Muslim rivals as a white Old Etonian 'is not very 2020'

More Rory

Our ongoing Rorywatch season has so far seen John Simpson singing the praises of "passionate Remainer" Conservative leadership candidate Rory Stewart and then John Sweeney and Danny Shaw adding their very warm words about him too. Now Rory has got The Big One: Gary Lineker: 

A retweet of Rory's response...

...prompted this comment from our old blogging companion DB:

More Roaring for Rory

Rory Stewart MP

First John Simpson:

Then John Sweeney:

Update: And Danny Shaw:

Plus a 'like' from Quentin Somerville:

And a 'retweet' (endorsement?) from Emily Maitlis too:

Roaring for Rory

I see that new Tory cabinet minister Rory Stewart has an admirer at the BBC:

Oh, and as John goes on to note, he was also "a passionate Remainer".