IN THE FAMILY…

Your help required. As we all know the BBC is riddled with connections to the UK political left. Do me a favour and detail as many names as you can with the political lineage. I ask for a good reason!

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55 Responses to IN THE FAMILY…

  1. PhilO'TheWisp says:

    Norman Smith lives in Labour’s bottom.

       20 likes

  2. Roland Deschain says:

    http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/465377/BBC-accused-of-left-wing-bias-for-employing-ex-Labour-adviser-as-economics-reporter

    Economics reporter Duncan Weldon – former adviser to Labour’s deputy leader Harriet Harman

    “Other appointments seen as fitting with a left-wing bias include former Guardian reporter Ian Katz as Newsnight editor and ex-Labour Cabinet Minister James Purnell as the BBC’s Director of Strategy and Digital.”

       26 likes

    • Jagman84 says:

      Why does Harriet harman need advisers? Is she f*****g thick or something? Hang on a sec…….. don’t bother answering.

         10 likes

  3. AsISeeIt says:

    ‘The two key people in charge of the BBC’s strategic direction in the run up to Labour’s 1997 election victory have had VERY close links with Brown and Blair. Ed Richards worked for Gordon Brown and was later to become BBC Controller of Corporate Strategy, and is now boss of OFCOM’

    ‘Bill Bush was Head of Political Research and Analysis at the BBC. He then became “Head of Research” for Tony Blair. He later took a position as Special Adviser to New Labour culture minister Tessa Jowell. As Minister for Culture, Media and Sport, Jowell and Bush were responsible for Government policy towards the BBC including renegotiating the licence fee.’

    http://gaiusmarcellus.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/unacceptable-links-between-labour-and.html

    See notes on:

    John Birt
    Greg Dyke
    Gavin Davies
    Sir Michael Lyons
    Ben Bradshaw
    Chris Bryant
    Celia Barlow
    Phil Woolas
    James Purnell
    Denis MacShane
    Ed Richards
    Tom Kelly
    Bill Bush
    Catherine Rimmer
    Geoff Mulgan
    etc
    etc
    etc

       21 likes

    • pah says:

      … and

      Martin Sixsmith
      Martin Bell
      Andrew Marr (son-in-law of Lord Ashley the Labour Peer)
      Jackie Ashley (Marr’s wife) ex-BBC and Gumbo Brown devotee.
      Kirsty Walk
      Miriam O’Reilly (ex Countryfile) – prospective Labour candidate.

      … and many others mentioned here.

         22 likes

  4. jeffd says:

    Andrew Marr was quite open on the Jeremy Vine show today, admitting his lifelong left-wing leanings.

       28 likes

  5. nofanofpoliticians says:

    Doesn’t one of Margaret Hodge’s offspring work at the BBC too? I could be wrong, but seem to recall it from this blog…

       11 likes

  6. #88 says:

    A couple more:

    Ben Wright – BBC Political Correspondent (Father : Tony Wright – former Labour MP, Cannock)

    Lizzie Watson – Producer (?) / Deputy Editor (?) Newsnight (Mother : Margaret Hodge)

       19 likes

  7. Mat says:

    Lauren Laverne= mother Labour Councillor
    some more names and conections on here =http://biasedbbc.proboards.com/board/15/labour-connections-http-tinypic-2eullog
    and here =
    https://lenathehyena.wordpress.com/2014/08/29/oh-what-a-tangled-web-we-weave-when-first-we-practice-to-deceive-bbc-scotland-and-the-labour-party/

       10 likes

  8. Mustapha Sheikup al-Beebi says:

    Robert errrr Peston is the son of Lord (Maurice) Peston, the Labour peer.

       18 likes

    • Dazed & Confused says:

      Peston also one of the major players in the Marxist creature, Julia Middleton’s orginisations, Common Purpose and the media standards trust…

         21 likes

  9. Captain Panick says:

    Carol Thatcher is the daughter …… Oh, the BBC fired her

       38 likes

  10. The Old Bloke says:

    It is like a virus.

       15 likes

  11. The Old Bloke says:

    Dr David Bellamy. He was against the notion of Global Warming/Climate Change and tried to become an MP calling for an EU (in/out) referendum. Sacked, got rid of, very quickly by the BBC.

       51 likes

    • Teddy Called Moh says:

      Ah Dr David Bellemy never to set foot in the BBC again. Thought less of that Jimmy Saville as far as the BBC is concerned.

         12 likes

    • dez says:

      The Old Bloke,

      Dr David Bellamy. He was against the notion of Global Warming/Climate Change and tried to become an MP calling for an EU (in/out) referendum. Sacked, got rid of, very quickly by the BBC.

      Ah, as regular as clockwork, every few months, someone will bring up “The Bellamy Argument”, closely followed by; “Why Isn’t Johnny Ball My Neurosurgeon?” written in crayon.

      David Bellamy only ever presented two series on TV:

      “Don’t Ask Me” (1974-1975) on ITV and “Bellamy’s Backyard Safari” on BBC in 1981. He co-hosted an episode of QED in 1986

      But that was pretty much the end of his broadcast career. Since then strangely, neither ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky, Fox News, The Disney Channel nor North Norfolk Digital have signed him up as a regular presenter.

      You are sadly deluding yourself if you think it all changed when he tried to become an MP (or changed his mind on Global Warming) in 1997 – over ten years later.

         5 likes

  12. JimS says:

    Laurie Taylor, presenter of Thinking Allowed previously married to BBC radio producer Cathy Mahoney. Son, Mathew Taylor, (mother Jennie Howells), ex-Labour party councillor, ex-Assistant General Secretary of Labour party, head of Blair’s No. 10 Policy Unit.

    Michael Rosen, presenter of Word of Mouth . Son of American communist Harold Rosen and British communist and broadcaster Connie Isakofsky. Campaigner for Palestine and speaker at Socialist Worker party conferences. Stood for election as a Respect Coalition candidate.

       25 likes

  13. stuart says:

    just but 30 minutes ago on iain dales lbc show, the labour party business secretary chuka umana said he and laura kuenssberg of newsnight fame get on really good and he finds her quiet good company.now thats what i call keeping it in the family.

       26 likes

  14. #88 says:

    And then, David, take a look at the BBC Trust – members of which are supposed to keep the BBC in check on behalf of us TV Taxpayers.

    Most of the buggers have:
    – worked for the BBC, or
    – have (or have had) a commercial relationship with the BBC, or
    – have family members who still work for the BBC

       25 likes

  15. Essex Man says:

    Rory Cellan Jones is married to a Labourite , can`t remember her /his name though .

       10 likes

  16. Geoff says:

    Victoria Coren (Mitchell) and hubby David Mitchell, smug Guardianista’s, insufferable feminist in Vicky’s case and of course Beeboid regulars.

       27 likes

  17. TheHighlandRebel says:

    Orla Guerin, Barbara Plett and Yolande Knell are brides of Satan – a well known left wing agitator.

       17 likes

    • Bob says:

      Barbara Plett, she who said she was crying when the old murderer Arafat was being taken to France to pop his clogs. We know where sympathies lies, unbiased, not a hope.

         8 likes

  18. IsItMe? says:

    Of course, she’s left the BBC now, but Stephanie Flanders (economics Editor) was the ex-girlfriend of both Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.

       20 likes

  19. Deborah says:

    David Prescott, John’s son, newly selected Labout Party candidate for Gainsborough, according to the Hull Daily Mail helped launch the Hull based Look North the Beeb’s local news for Yorkshire and the Humber. His legacy continues with Tim Iredale sneering the most anti Conservative propaganda you can imagine.

       12 likes

  20. Ralph says:

    Kirsty Wark was a friend of Jack McConnell, former Labour Scottish First Minister unrelated to him giving her production company contacts, BBC political correspondent Ben Wright’s father was a Labour MP and he was sent to interview him, Andy Marr was a member of the ‘Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory’ (they lost), and Laura Kuenssberg’s parents were great friend’s of Gordon Brown.

       18 likes

  21. John Bosworth says:

    One important relationship now almost forgotten. Margaret Jay was the daughter of Prime Minister James Callaghan. She was a producer in BBC Current Affairs Dept in the 70s. Her husband was Peter Jay and she had an affair on Washington with Varl Bernstein. She went on to found TV-AM. In fact the Jay family are a political/media phemononin.

       14 likes

  22. Geoff says:

    Another one, Mr and Mrs J.Vine, aka Miss Schofield

    rachel-schofield-Image-009.jpg

    JeremyVine_JeffOversPA460.jpg

    Smugness personified!

       16 likes

  23. Selohesra says:

    Links between Labour & TV (not just BBC) are numerous but a few seem to be able to carry on in professional manner – I always quite liked ex Labour MP Brian Walden on ITVs Weekend World – although it was a few years ago

       9 likes

  24. Ian Rushlow says:

    Denis MacShane – convicted fraudster and former Minister for Europe – started off in the BBC. Here’s his “Full bio” (sic) from ‘The Globalist’ website, where he currently writes:

    “Denis MacShane was the Member of Parliament for the UK’s Rotherham constituency, in South Yorkshire, from 1994 to 2012. In 2001, he was named a minister at the Foreign Office by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

    From 2002 to 2005, Mr. MacShane was the UK’s Minister for Europe. He was sworn as a privy councillor in June 2005.

    He began his career as a BBC reporter. Before becoming an MP, he worked for the international trade union movement promoting trade union rights and wrote books on the steel industry and on global political issues.”

    And here’s a slightly more comprehensive one from Wikipedia. See if you can spot anything that may have been missed out from his “Full bio”:

    Denis MacShane (born Denis Matyjaszek; 21 May 1948) is a British former Labour Party politician and a convicted fraudster. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rotherham from 1994 to his resignation in 2012 and served in the Labour Government as Minister of State for Europe from 2002 until 2005.

    On 2 November 2012, he was suspended from the Labour Party after the House of Commons Standards and Privileges Committee found that he had submitted 19 false invoices “plainly intended to deceive” the parliamentary expenses authority. Later that day he announced his intention to resign as MP for Rotherham. On 9 October 2013, MacShane was removed from the Privy Council (and so lost the right to use the honorific ‘The Right Honourable’). On 18 November 2013 he pleaded guilty to false accounting at the Old Bailey, by submitting false receipts for £12 900, and on 23 December 2013, he was sentenced to six months imprisonment. He served his sentence in HM Prison Belmarsh and HM Prison Brixton.

    MacShane previously worked for the BBC and International Metalworkers’ Federation.

       17 likes

    • Geoff says:

      Don’t forget his partner ex wife of Chris Huhne and ex-con Vicky Price (born Vasiliki Kourmouzi) still a bBC regular despite her conviction for perverting the course of justice.

      Also a graduate of the LSE.

         18 likes

  25. Richard Pinder says:

    The investigations for the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into the Future of the BBC has this bit of information for us.

    The BBC Editorial Complaints Unit staff and those working in the Trust Unit with active political involvement in the Labour Party must declare it on a Declaration of Personal Interest form or similar forms, and then review them annually. At the moment, these forms are protected by the Data Protection Act, so checking the staff names with those held by the Labour Party is an ongoing process and could eventually be checked with what has been put on the BBC forms.

       13 likes

  26. Demon says:

    Austin Mitchell had been a reporter on ITV, but no BBC history as far as I can see – although all TV droids seem to flit from one organisation to another.

       8 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      Most of his TV work was for Yorkshire Television (ITV), plus some for Sky in its early days. He was at the BBC, but only very briefly, probably not enough to be significant.

         4 likes

  27. DownBoy says:

    Orla Guerin was a candidate for the Irish Labour party.

       13 likes

  28. Where are all the South Wales Valleys accents gone? says:

    Things are even worse in the Land of My fathers…

    http://labour-uncut.co.uk/2013/07/19/letter-from-wales-a-land-in-the-grip-of-the-crachach/

       14 likes

    • Merched Becca says:

      Never a truer word written !

         6 likes

    • Larry Dart says:

      I met one of these ‘crachach’ people (BBC) mentioned in that article about 40 years ago. He was the cousin of my girlfriend at the time. He was the most arrogant little piece of shit you could have the misfortune to meet.
      On top of that, he insisted on only speaking Welsh, talk about making a guest feel welcome.
      I got my own back though, I started speaking to him in the thickest pitmatic Geordie I could muster. The git goniel didn’t have an effing clue what I was calling him.

         15 likes

      • Where are all the South Wales Valleys accents gone? says:

        Sadly we in Wales are governed by vindictive Welsh Labour ……the types that even turn on their own once feted token lefty socialist comrade Anne Clwyd (real name Anne Lewis) who was a student teacher at Hope School in Flintshire, before training as a journalist. She then worked for BBC Wales as a studio manager, and then became Welsh correspondent for the Guardian and Observer newspapers during 1964-79.[1] She was Vice-Chair of the Arts Council of Wales from 1975-79. She is a member of the NUJ and TGWU.)….. because she dared to criticise the mess that is the Welsh NHS following the death of her husband in the Heath Hospital Cardiff.

        Us mere mortals in Wales who are not connected to the political or language elite have no chance of such eye catching criticisms and have to watch Health Minister Professor (yes a Professor) Mark Drakeford tell us everything is ok and that any problems in the Welsh NHS are down to those beastly Saxons over the border…notwithstanding that the Welsh NHS is fully devolved and controlled by the idiots in Kairdiff Bay.

        You think it’s bad in Jockland or England…come home to a real labour NHS shambles in Wales.

        PS There were 8 ambulances outside the Heath Hospital as I drove by today…but you won’t hear anything about it in the Welsh media who are all in the pocket of the Labour Welsh assembly…just as you wont hear a South Wales Valleys accent on any local media…all 2 million of us are just ‘not worthy’

           9 likes

        • Larry Dart says:

          Are you from Porth?

             2 likes

        • Conan the Contrarian says:

          Yes, South Wales has become a Banana Republic , governed as it is , by a coalition of L abour and Plaid.
          Its brand of nationalism and anti-English bile allied to spectacular Cronyism amongst the Taffia ,has certainly contibuted to the endless stories we receive in the English press about inefficiencies and cover-ups.
          The sheer level of hatred for the English (even though they’ve run their own show for years now) continues to astound this Englishman.

             3 likes

  29. Bob says:

    Felicity Goodie, ex BBC journalist who became Chair of the Board at South Manchester University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (SMUHFT). Two points, 1) she was a political appointment and a safe pair of Labour hands in the run up to Trust status and PFI and 2) no detrimental comment was ever made by BBC Northwest during her tenure of office, unless other news networks made them first and kept making them. This Trust has a 20 million pound hole in their 2013-4 budget and the CQC are in there and earlier this year were criticised and downgraded plus Monitor have a member on the Board to ensure financial proberty.

    Felicity has now ‘retired’ from the post in the last three months before the sh1t hits the public fan which the BBC cannot not report.

       11 likes

  30. Geoff says:

    Tony Booth and his daughter Cherrie Booth (Mrs Blair).

    Booth a regular on bBC comedies and dramas in the 60’s & 70’s, has also appeared as himself in bBC documentaries, also a regular on ITV.

       8 likes