Steerpike

Last week, the BBC show Newsnight found itself in hot water, after its presenter Emily Maitlis was rebuked by the BBC for not showing due impartiality, when she opened the show with a broadside against Dominic Cummings and Boris Johnson. You would think, therefore, that the programme would be on its best behaviour at the moment, and would make sure that it was reporting the facts correctly. Apparently not though. Yesterday evening, the programme included a segment in which it suggested that the UK’s daily death toll from Covid-19 was higher than every other country in the EU combined. The programme even displayed a graph prominently, to highlight the UK’s high death toll. https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1268304147301965826?

Was Boris Johnson wearing an earpiece during PMQs? Of course not. But that didn't stop some of those who should know better suggesting otherwise. Former media editor of the Times Raymond Snoddy shared a claim that 'it seems entirely possible the PM is in fact having radio prompts to attempt to make him appear competent'. Stand-up comedian Alastair Barrie also joined in: 'This needs some serious retweeting. Johnson using an earpiece at #PMQs the day after The Telegraph reported he’s taken ‘direct control’,' he wrote. While Labour MP Bill Esterton wrote: 'Suggestions that Johnson had an earpiece in for #PMQs. If he was receiving help, it didn't show.

MPs tried out Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new voting system for the first time today, as they prepared for a return to the House of Commons and the end of the virtual voting system. The reforms have already proven controversial among MPs, who have complained that the new system will involve long queues, will take at least 40 minutes for a vote, and shielded members will not be able to take part. In order to keep socially distanced, the politicians were forced to form an orderly queue which ended up stretching for almost a kilometre around the Parliamentary estate, so MPs could remain two metres apart at all times.

Last month, Mr Steerpike wrote about the worrying decision by YouTube to remove a video featuring Karol Sikora, a professor of medicine, from its platform. Sikora appeared to have been targeted because he believed that coronavirus was petering out, and that we could potentially learn from Sweden which did not lockdown to protect itself against the virus. Happily, YouTube reversed the decision shortly afterwards. Unfortunately though, it seems as though the social media company has not changed its policy on coronavirus videos. Today, the free speech show Triggernometry, has claimed that its recent interview with the Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens appears to have been removed from YouTube search.

The Newsnight team were rapped on the knuckles by the BBC yesterday, after presenter Emily Maitlis opened Tuesday's show with a monologue saying Dominic Cummings had broken the rules with his lockdown trip to Durham. The corporation ruled that the introduction ‘did not meet our standards of due impartiality'. Safe to say, those working on Newsnight were not happy with the BBC’s reprimand. In response Maitlis ducked out of presenting the show last night, while policy editor Lewis Goodall sent tweets praising the ‘world class presenter’ and reiterating his support for the programme. So you can imagine Goodall’s delight this afternoon when it was reported that Durham police had concluded that Cummings had broken the lockdown rules.

Today, Boris Johnson was grilled by MPs on the Liaison committee, which is made up of select committee chairs. The Prime Minister was asked about a range of topics in the marathon session, including about his adviser Dominic Cummings’s trip to Durham during lockdown. But while the Prime Minister seemed to survive arguably the trickiest part of the session involving Cummings – after MPs mainly used the opportunity to grandstand, rather than ask probing questions – Boris seemed to struggle when asked about female participation in his top team. Former Home Office minister Caroline Nokes began by asking the Prime Minister about his comment that ‘enough’ women were involved in the decision-making process during the coronavirus crisis.

Dominic Cummings doesn't have a huge number of supporters in the newspapers this morning, but Michael Gove is doing his best to defend the PM's chief aide. Asked by LBC's Nick Ferrari whether he would, like Cummings, go on a sixty-mile trip to test his eyesight, Gove suggested he would do, before abruptly changing tack: Gove: 'I have on occasions in the past driven with my wife in order to make sure I...what's the right way of putting it?' Ferrari: 'I'm staggered. I don't know how you're going to get out of this but it's going to be fun.' Gove: 'I think people who know me would know I'm not an authority on driving...' Ferrari: 'I merely asked you whether you'd been on a sixty-mile round trip to test your eyesight and you said you had. I mean, why not go to Specsavers?

It's become a common sight to see SNP politicians complaining about journalistic bias against them. Just last week the BBC's Sarah Smith was in the firing line for suggesting Nicola Sturgeon was 'enjoying the opportunity' to set lockdown policy in Scotland different to the rest of the United Kingdom. However, Mr S wonders if the latest STV offering may be more to their taste. This afternoon STV released a video of children thanking the First Minister for keeping them safe. In the somewhat bizarre video, various young children are filming taking part in a joint message of thanks set to soft piano music: The children of Scotland would like to say thank you - to Nicola, our First Minister of Scotland. We are so grateful. Thank you for always keeping us safe.

As a former shadow education minister, you would expect Angela Rayner to be keeping a close eye on the scientific advice about when schools should begin to reopen. The government currently plans to reopen schools for some pupils on 1 June – a decision which has provoked the ire of several teaching unions, who say it is not yet safe for staff members or children. Which perhaps explains why this morning the deputy leader of the Labour party went on the attack, and tweeted out an article by the Times Educational Supplement, pointing out that: ‘SAGE concludes June 1st “too soon” to open schools. Teacher unions have been absolutely correct in asking for safety measures to be in place before re-opening.