Axed by the BBC
From Janet Daley Sir: What an extraordinary tangle of contradictions the BBC has generated about its coverage on the night of the local elections! Matthew Parris (Another voice, 31 May) appears to have been told by somebody that I, as the lone MS loyalist, was shunted to the second hour, which I was 'unable to do'. I was not shunted to the second hour. I was shunted off the programme altogether.
It went like this: my agent was contacted several days before the event and told that I was earnestly in demand. I would be appearing with Matthew and one unnamed other to discuss the future of the Tory party in the light of the results. I agreed to appear. One of the programme producers then telephoned me and we had a discussion about my views. I perceived — as one does — that this conversation was not going according to the production team's plan. On the day itself, my agent received another phone call from the BBC saying that they had decided to drop the item because of timing problems. 'So,' my agent said, 'we won't be seeing Matthew Parris tonight either.' Hesitation at the other end of the line, followed by a reply to the effect that the item would be appearing — if at all — much later than planned, but that Matthew had agreed to hang around and wait however long it took. My agent said that she thought I might be willing to do the same. Alarm at the other end of the line and insistence that the chances of getting on air were so remote that the BBC would not want to waste my time, biahblah. In short, I was no longer wanted.
Virtually simultaneous with this odd exchange was a conversation between Matthew and myself. I rang him when I gathered that I was being dropped to find out precisely what had been said to him. Neither he nor his secretary had heard anything from the BBC about the broadcast plans, or the possible timing of his appearance. So it would seem that I was told that he had agreed to something that he knew nothing about, and he was told that I was 'unable to do' a later appearance which was never on offer. Very strange.
Janet Daley The Daily Telegraph, London E14
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