Complaint
The programme included an interview between Nick Robinson and the Conservative MP and junior minister Chris Philp during which Mr Robinson pressed him on the Prime Ministerβs claim that Sir Keir Starmer, when Director of Public Prosecutions, had βspent most of his timeβ¦failing to prosecute Jimmy Savileβ.Μύ A listener considered that Mr Robinsonβs remark that Mr Philp wasΒ βd±π±τΎ±²΅³σ³Ω±π»εβ at the chance to βrepeat the connection (between Sir Keir and Jimmy Savile) displayed bias against him, particularly in a context where it was Mr Robinson who had raised the issue. The ECU considered the complaint in the light of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs editorial standards of impartiality.
Outcome
The interview took place the day after Sir Keir had been bundled into a police car while mobbed by protesters, some of whom shouted abuse linking him with Jimmy Savile.Μύ This had the effect of renewing calls for the Prime Minister to apologise for the statement eight days previously in which he had made the same link.Μύ The subject was therefore topical, and it was legitimate for Mr Robison to raise it with someone speaking on behalf of the Government.Μύ The comment singled out by the listener seemed to the ECU to be of a piece with a segment of the interview which had been challenging and at times ill-tempered, and in which Mr Philp had defended the Prime Minister on the grounds that his original statement had been misconstrued.Μύ In relation to impartiality, however, the ECU noted that Mr Philp, who gave the impression of being entirely capable of defending himself, neither objected to Mr Robinsonβs comment nor took the opportunity, as he might have done, to qualify or rebut it.Μύ Overall, the ECU judged that the audience in general would have understood it as a part and parcel of robust political interviewing on a sharply controversial topic rather than a manifestation of bias, and that there had been no breach of the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs standards of impartiality.
Not upheld