Oral Answers to Questions Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Jo Stevens
Main Page: Jo Stevens (Labour - Cardiff Central)Department Debates - View all Jo Stevens's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(2 years, 7 months ago)
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Jo Stevens (Cardiff Central) (Lab)
We have spent much of the past two weeks talking about standards in public office, and on this side of the House we care deeply about the independence and impartiality of the BBC. I know that the Secretary of State also cares, to the extent that she actually has the time to police the BBC political editor’s tweets and publicly rebuke her. Does the Secretary of State agree that it would be highly inappropriate for a Government Minister overseeing licence fee negotiations to seek to influence editorial decisions, including how the Prime Minister was interviewed, and use the threat of reducing BBC licence fee funding while doing so?
Ms Dorries
There were four elements to that questions. On the tweet, I did not rebuke Laura Kuenssberg, somebody who is perhaps the best in the business—very professional; a very polite tweet. Some people, particularly some Opposition Members, do seem to have a problem understanding a composition of 240 characters; the tweet was completely misinterpreted. I was not rebuking Laura Kuenssberg and I never would.