MUST APOLOGISE To Sir Ian Jacob, Sir Robert Fraser. the
party Whips, and the party leaders for asserting, wrongly, that the two corporations were not represented at the meeting held last week to settle outstanding problems of election broadcasting. The account I was given of the meeting was circumstantial and, I believe, cor- rect; but as it made no reference to any interven- tion by BBC or ITA I assumed that they could not have been asked to attend. They were, and did. But this only confirms the point I have been trying to make for months. Sir Ian is being dis- ingenuous in our correspondence columns when he implies this was not a Whips' meeting : other people may have been there, but the Whips were dominant. And this seems to .me to be disgrace- ful. The corporations are perfectly capable of making their own election rules (I am glad to see the BBC has since done so); it is bad they should have to listen to the Whips at all, and still worse that they should feel compelled to ask for the meeting.
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