To think the BBC has become a mouthpiece for Reform and will help win them the next election

[Hazlenuts2016]

Previously posted in politics but now posting in AIBU for more traffic.
Watching Laura K this morning shamelessly talking over everything Yvette Cooper was saying and then interview Robert Jenrick as if he were a key member of the (proper) shadow cabinet and barely challenge him at all. Why was he even given airtime this morning? I think she and Chris Mason, particularly, are on the wrong side of history and will regret it when Farage gets in, abolishes the BBC and they have to beg for jobs at GB News. The excessive amount of time the BBC gives to Reform and their endless criticism of Labour is so blatant.

Probably because Cooper and Labour are awful, and Jenrick and his party are awful.

The greens are just a joke,

I wouldn’t vote reform, but they are carrying no government baggage.

It doesn’t matter how “awful” an interviewee is they should be treated with respect. LK was beyond rude to Cooper yesterday. And Jenrick shouldn’t have been there at all, it was flagrant favouritism to give Reform a slot.

@Boomer55 but Reform are made up almost entirely of baggage! Some of Reform's most prominent (ahem) 'shadow cabinet' members are part of the government who broke the country, including Jenrick and Braverman who are now criticising the very systems they set up. And Farage wiped billions off the economy with Brexit.

Because she’s the Foreign Secretary? And he’s not?

It was widely speculated that Kuensberg was a 'regular' at the covid parties in Downing Street.
The BBC seems to take against any party who is in control. The Tories got the same treatment as the Labour party are getting now.
Presumably, the BBC thinks this makes them seem cutting edge and non partisan🙄

Kuensberg is a disgrace to 'reporting' and tbh, I haven't watched her fir a few years now. I have high blood pressure and she sends me off the scale.
I don't have much time for any media reporting, it's all biased.

@Swiftie1878 so Jenrick can get away with painting Labour as this party who has come in and wrecked everything, while Laura K knows full well that he created a lot of the problems they have to contend with? He can wipe his slate clean now he is with Reform?

I felt she addressed that with him, as she did when she interviewed him a few weeks ago too.
The interview was focused on current events, so it would have been churlish and ineffective to keep banging on about all of his mistakes in the past. We all know about those.

There was a very entertaining Twitter feed from a researcher at BBC question time which said they always liked booking Nigel as he was charming and responded promptly to all requests, whereas the Greens were pompous and late in replying.

I think Nigel Farage is a massive arse but I could imagine him charming the right people and the Greens being clueless as to why this was necessary.

@Swiftie1878how is it not relevant to current events if his government created a lot of the current problems? What right does he have to lecture the current govt when he made a pig's ear of everything himself?

Possibly, but as containment, to try and hoover up and direct as much of the right wing vote into this pretend party as possible. It's not really right wing at all and contains cabinet members who presided over the Boriswave. The left should view that as a good thing.

Well, that is politics, and that is politicians doing their job - holding the government to account.

I think your personal political views are tainting the way you see LK’s pragmatic approach to a political interview. If every time she interviews Jenrick she just goes at him for his appalling mistakes when he was in government, and suggests he has no right to now comment on what he current government is doing, it would all be a bit pointless really, wouldn’t it?

To a degree I think Reform has been a media construct as all outlets have made too much of what was (and might have remained) a fringe party without them talking it up all the time.

I am delighted to see that Reform has its own breakaway movement now which hopefully will split the ultra-right wing vote and clip Reform's wings.

@BlueJuniper94it contains the worst, most incompetent members of the previous government. Nadine Dorries sometimes represents them on Question Time. As culture sec she didn't even know how channel 4 was funded. Suella and Jenrick couldn't sort out immigration but seem to think it's easy to manage now they've left. They are the 'acceptable' faces beside other deeply unpleasant people like Matt Goodwin who is so far right he is endorsed by Tommy Robinson. And Farage has been accused by 30+ people of racism, chalking it up to playground banter. These are dangerous people. Lack of skills mixed with wealth, power and racism.

@Swiftie1878well I did wonder why Jenrick even had a platform on Sunday in the context of what they were discussing. He isn't in the shadow cabinet. And if you think Laura K is impartial, please compare the mild mannered way she interviews Farage (usually prerecorded) with her approach to Labour politicians. Farage has got a lot to answer for and his Brexit legacy has left us with a whole load of issues he never wants to discuss. She never challenges him on anything.

ReformUK29%
Labour21%
Conservative18%
Greens12%
Lib Dems10%
Others5%
SNP2%
PC2%

The latest poll has Reform at 29% so if most of the electorate are intending to vote for them then they should have media coverage to find out more about them.

The 29% pay the BBC licence fee and so the BBC content should reflect that.

UK 29% Labour 21% Conservative 18% Greens 12% Lib Dems 10% Others 5% SNP 2% PC 2% Poll

Matt Goodwin is a lot less "far right" than you think. There is a very vocal "further right" that despise Goodwin

All good . Let’s hope they win .

@PeachOctopus well if you're going to give them a platform at least treat them with the same level of scrutiny you apply to the greens and lib dems. Not treat Sunday With Laura K as a party political broadcast by Reform.

@hattie43goodbye NHS

Nope . The NHS will still be there. That’s an old trope trotted out all the time by the left trying to use any desperate rhetoric to persuade people that the right are bad .

@hattie43 did you also believe the line about 350 million a week going into the NHS?

No I didn’t .

@hattie43so we are to believe Farage, a man whose Brexit victory was built on that lie about the NHS, when he says he will protect the NHS? How can people trust him. The man is pure poison and shouldn't be allowed anywhere near government.

Read that back and tell me Labour aren’t exactly the same , lies , scandal , lame duck Keir not even in charge of his party .
Besides none of that interests me . I’m only interested in who I think puts this country and its loyal citizens first . I went right as soon as our statues were being pulled down and our heritage trashed . I want law and order .

I've heard this too. Supposedly, Reform have a policy of being really quick to say yes to TV appearances. They turn up on time and are polite to the TV production junior who brings them a coffee.