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The BBC are incorrigible....
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(My uninventive title might earn me a 'No Shit Sherlock' award from Not a sheep!)
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Going back to my final post from yesterday, I haven't been watching the BBC much this week but, despite that, I've already heard several disapproving/sarcastic mentions of the new coalition cabinet's lack of women, so I suspect there have been many more and that you will have heard some of them too.
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This lunchtime's Politics Show provided only the latest example, as Jon Sopel said sarcastically, "Compensating for the lack of women in the cabinet, we're joined now by Sarah Sands and Miranda Green".
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So we have a big problem, according to the BBC. The BBC likes to quote the killer figure - a cabinet of 23, featuring just 4 women.
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Here's what they mean, with helpful colour-coordination (colours chosen at random!)
Prime Minister The Rt Hon David Cameron MP
Deputy Prime Minister The Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP
Foreign Secretary The Rt Hon William Hague MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer The Rt Hon George Osborne MP
Secretary of State for Justice The Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP
Home Secretary The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Secretary of State for Defence The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change The Rt Hon Chris Huhne MP
Secretary of State for Health The Rt Hon Andrew Lansley CBE MP
Secretary of State for Education The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government The Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
Secretary of State for Transport The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP
Secretary of State for Environment The Rt Hon Caroline Spelman MP
Secretary of State for International Development The Rt Hon Andrew Mitchell MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Rt Hon Owen Paterson MP
Secretary of State for Scotland The Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP
Secretary of State for Wales The Rt Hon Cheryl Gillan MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury The Rt Hon David Laws MP
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The Rt Hon The Lord Strathclyde PC
Minister without Portfolio (Minister of State) The Rt Hon The Baroness Warsi PC
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The BBC, however, must take us for complete idiots - and, given that no-one seems to be pointing this out to them whenever they complain about the 'gender balance' of the new cabinet, perhaps with some justification - but this alleged 'terrible step backwards for women', about which they are getting so worked up, neglects one killer fact: The last Labour cabinet also contained just 4 women out of a cabinet of 23!!
Prime Minister The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP
Leader of the House of Commons The Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP
First Secretary of State The Rt Hon The Lord Mandelson PC
Chancellor of the Exchequer The Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs The Rt Hon David Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Justice The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
Secretary of State for the Home Department The Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs The Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP
Secretary of State for International Development The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government The Rt Hon John Denham MP
Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families The Rt Hon Ed Balls MP
Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change The Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Health The Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland The Rt Hon Shaun Woodward MP
Leader of the House of Lords The Rt Hon The Baroness Royall of Blaisdon PC
Minister for the Cabinet Office The Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
Secretary of State for Scotland The Rt Hon Jim Murphy MP
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury The Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP
Secretary of State for Wales The Rt Hon Peter Hain MP
Secretary of State for Defence The Rt Hon Bob Ainsworth MP
Secretary of State for Transport The Rt Hon The Lord Adonis MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport The Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP
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The BBC are trying to pull the wool over our eyes on this issue. They are condemning and mocking our new government for something Brown's last cabinet was no less guilty of. They didn't scream blue murder then, so why are they doing it now? And how dare they think we wouldn't notice?
It look as if they are going to chuck anything they can at this new government (especially one part of it) and will clearly not let any ideas of fairness or honesty get in their way. (Why change the habit of a lifetime?)
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Labour got a honeymoon from the BBC in 1997 that just went on and on and on (arguably for 13 years, with a brief blip during the Iraq War). The ConLibs haven't even had a day's grace from the biased BBC.
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UPDATE: After the Susana report (reviewed above), Sopel returned to his earlier point, in his sarcastic introduction to Lib Dem Scottish Secretary Danny (as opposed to Dougie) Alexander: "Well, in this new era of new politics we have something entirely new - Lib Dem cabinet ministers. Five of them. All men. "Male and pale" to use the phrase." A phrase, as I say, not used by Sopel and his kind about the no less 'male' or 'pale' final Labour cabinet. The BBC are truly, truly shameless. (And on the 'pale' front, I'll match lonely Baroness Scotland (1) with Baroness Warsi (1) No, the new government is no less 'hideously white' than its predecessor, despite what the BBC is trying to insinuate here).
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PS Just a thought. Given that, as in this case, the Lib Dems (previously much favoured by the BBC) are now witnessing some collateral damage resulting from fire aimed at their coalition partners, the Conservatives, in the new spirit of the times, even they might begin to see the BBC in a new and less favourable light. I think a few e-mails to them are in order too.
Great to have you back providing such in-depth on the button analysis. I must admit, I just assumed the last Labour Cabinet must have been crammed with women! Even I underestimated the depths to which the BBC is prepared to sink! The BBC is clearly setting out its stall which is clearly 'bias as usual and even more shameless than before'. The problem is the more biased the BBC gets the more Cameron sucks up to it. It would be great if a movement could be got going with a paid spokesman to lobby for Parliamentary action to restore BBC impartiality, which inevitably means a huge cull of BBC News & Current Affairs and the propagandists in its drama department. The BBC is killing our democracy. It's a question of kill or be killed.
ReplyDeleteI think your phrase 'blue murder' may be a clue as to why!
ReplyDeleteThe latest "wheeze" the bbc have initiated is to get Labour activists and supporters, as well as their own bbc people, to openly complain about the bias the bbc is extending and has previously extended to the Conservative party.
ReplyDeleteIt beggars belief that they are so cocooned in their own bubble that they do not realise that the British public do not now believe that the only "nasty party" is the bbc with its constant drip feed of biased messages to undermine the UK and England in particular.
On Feedback yesterday they had a woman complaining of the bbc's handling of "Biggotgate" stating they had overblown it and were pandering "to a right wing media". At the same time in response to the bbc editor's comment that he would have done the same if it had been David Cameron, she had the cheek to state she would then have defended DM. The bbc appears to have left this woman's very contradictory statement intact and so undermine their own message.
Baroness Warsi is a big problem for the BBC. A female muslim who is a Tory. And she has a "regional accent". That must blow their tiny little minds.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if you have a photo of her, Craig, to remind us what she looks like ?
PS I don't think Baroness Warsi has had any criminal prosecutions against her and been accused of perjury.
ReplyDeleteHooray - I've been banging on about BBC bias for ages.
ReplyDeleteThey tried to control the whole election which but for them the LibDems might have won outright. I am delighted with the coalition and all of its members. A little more co-operation in politics is what we need. Now instead of Yah-boo government, we have the Yah-boo media.
Did you hear radio 4 this morning? John Humphries blasting off about why aren't the Government - which he seems to think are only the Conservatives - telling the LibDems to put up with it, whatever they decide.
Have the BBC any idea how to interview members of a coalition?
They do seem very puzzled about what a coalition involves, don't they?
ReplyDeleteThough a Labour supporter, actor Chris Addison (on 'Have I Got News For You' last week) made the telling point that journalists seem to be finding it surprisingly hard to grasp that coalitions are, by their very nature, a 'you win some, you lose some' affair!
Grant, I think I can safely promise that a picture of Baroness Warsi will not be long in coming!
ReplyDelete