A group of Conservative MPs have written a letter to the BBC’s incoming Director-General, attacking the organisation’s lack of impartiality.
The group, comprised of fourteen Tory MPs, wrote to Tim Davie “on behalf of our constituents”, saying: “In our opinion, the BBC is fundamentally failing … to ensure that the diverse perspectives and interests of the public and audiences, including licence fee payers across the whole of the United Kingdom, are taken into account.”
They continued by attacking the BBC’s previous Director-General, Tony Hall, saying: “Your predecessor believed that the BBC reflects the voices of the whole of the UK. This is simply not the case.”
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Tim Davie is due to start at his post on 1st September.
The BBC courted controversy this week when they made the decision to axe the words for the songs Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory from their programme Last Night of the Proms.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson described the BBC’s decision as “wetness”. He told reporters: “I cannot believe … that the BBC is saying that they will not sing the words of Land Of Hope And Glory or Rule, Britannia! as they traditionally do at the end of the Last Night of The Proms.
“I think it’s time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history, about our traditions, and about our culture, and we stopped this general fight of self-recrimination and wetness.
“I wanted to get that off my chest.”
In the letter, the MPs also expressed disappointment at the BBC’s decision regarding the Last Night of the Proms. They wrote: “Our most recent cause for concern is the BBC’s proposed change to the Last Night of the Proms. To our knowledge, not a single constituent has ever raised a complaint about the lyrics or connotations of Rule, Brittania! nor Land of Hope and Glory.” They continued: “All the BBC can offer is censorship and ahistorical apologism.”
The author of the letter was Chris Loder MP, on behalf of Lee Anderson, Gareth Bacon, Simon Baynes, Aaron Bell, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Dehenna Davison, Peter Gibson, Jonathan Gullis, Tom Hunt, Karl McCartney, Dr Kieran Mullan, Tom Randall, Rob Roberts and Gary Sambrook.
