A senior Labour MP has accused the BBC of “consciously” playing a role in the party’s defeat at the General Election.
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald made the claims during an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
It came as the party’s leadership battle descended into acrimony with Jeremy Corbyn facing renewed criticism and one of his key allies being accused of calling voters “stupid”.
Presenter Justin Webb asked Mr McDonald about Labour’s heavy losses and whether the party’s leader played a part in that.
Mr McDonald said: “Don’t get me started on the media, Justin. I’m very worried about our public service broadcaster.”
“Are you saying that the BBC was in part responsible for Mr Corbyn’s loss?” Webb asked.
READ MORE: BBC accused of 'short-changing' voters in Scotland with Boris Johnson/Jeremy Corbyn head-to-head
Mr McDonald replied: “I am saying that they played a part. I’m really worried about the drift. You’ve seen the catalogue of criticisms that we’re making.
“We’ve accepted that the print media are rained against us, but my goodness me. I’m going to look at us.
“We’re the important part here. We got this wrong, but if the BBC are going to hold themselves out as somehow having conducted themselves in an impartial manner, I think they’ve really got to have a look in the mirror. We’ve got a lot to say about this.”
Asked if the BBC “consciously” played a part, Mr McDonald replied: “Consciously, yes.”
He added: “When you have a BBC presenter standing in front of a television camera saying ‘and Boris Johnson is on his way to a richly-deserved victory’.”
Webb said: “Oh, it’s a slip of the tongue. That’s absolute madness, isn’t it?”
Mr McDonald said: “How many slips of the tongue are we going to make until you accept it?
“I think it’s a distraction, quite frankly. Because I’m accepting that we got this wrong … you asked me about Jeremy Corbyn, I’ll say to you quite clearly: he is a principled, decent man and he’s vilified.
“I had in my constituency where posters were going up saying this man is effectively a paedophile, ‘you would not trust this man with your children’.
“How much more do we need to do to demonise a good individual? So, he’s no longer going to be leader.
“The Brexit issue is going to be progressed, we’re going to be out of the European Union on January 31 and we as the Labour Party have to galvanise around our core principles and make sure that we deliver for our people. It’s as simple as that.”
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry, who is believed to be eyeing a bid to succeed Mr Corbyn, was forced to deny the “total and utter lie” on Sunday and was understood to be consulting lawyers.
Caroline Flint, who lost her seat in the former stronghold of Don Valley during the catastrophic election for Labour, claimed Ms Thornberry had told a colleague: “I’m glad my constituents aren’t as stupid as yours.”
The row came as shadow chancellor John McDonnell tried to take the flak for the defeat, saying “I own this disaster”, and as Mr Corbyn also apologised for Labour’s worst result since 1935.
The race to succeed the leader is in full swing, with potential candidates testing the waters while senior figures in the current leadership gave their backing to shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey.
Labour’s general secretary, Jennie Formby, reportedly wrote to the party’s ruling National Executive Committee recommending the contest starts on January 7, with the view of having a new leader by the end of March.
Mr Corbyn had written in an open letter that “I take my responsibility” for the loss and apologised, but had come under fire for an unrepentant tone on the night of the defeat.
“I will make no bones about it. The result was a body blow for everyone who so desperately needs real change in our country,” he wrote in the Sunday Mirror.
Mr Corbyn said he will stand down in the early part of next year after overseeing a “process of reflection” within the party.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel