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BBC radio presenter Jim Naughtie apologises for ‘outrageous slur’

His comments had been dubbed "outrageous"

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BBC radio presenter Jim Naughtie has apologised for likening a group of Tory Eurosceptics to France’s National Front, saying that his words were “ill-chosen”.

The broadcaster had been labelled a “very, very highly paid bigot” by Conservative Mark Francois and suggested the corporation risked showing pro-EU bias during an outburst in the Commons.

He had also objected to Jim’s comparisons linked to the Brexit-backing European Research Group (ERG), of which he is a member.

Jim Naughtie
Jim apologised for his comments (Credit: PA)

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Mr Francois had called for the presenter to resign if he failed to apologise for his comments, made on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Jim said in a statement: “I was wrong to say in a live discussion this morning that members of the ERG would be happy in a far-right party.

“That was not my intention, because I don’t believe it. I was trying to make the point that if our parties fracture in some way after Brexit – on right and left – we could see a political landscape emerge that looks more like the rest of Europe than it does at the moment.

“But my words were ill-chosen and I’m sorry for any offence caused.”

Mark Francois (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)
Mark Francois dubbed the comments a ‘slur’ and ‘outrageous’ (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Jim had been involved in a discussion about the impact of Brexit on politics and the governing system on the Today programme.

After saying he did not expect either the Tories or Labour to split and disappear, Jim added: “Somebody put it to me the other day, look, in any other European country the Conservative Party wouldn’t exist in its current form.

“The ERG, Jacob Rees-Mogg’s group, in France would be in the National Front because that’s what they believe, and in Germany they’d be in the AfD.

“It’s only because of our system that the carapace of this party keeps them in, and I think on both sides of the aisle that can’t last.”

Raising a point of order in the Commons, Mr Francois repeated the quote before saying: “I believe that is an outrageous comment and it is a slur on at least 80 members of this House.

Jim Naughtie
Jim said his comments were ill-chosen (Credit: YouTube/BBC)

“We feel passionately about Brexit, as do members from all corners of this House, but that does not mean that we belong in the National Front, a despicable organisation that all of us would condemn.

“I would like to take this opportunity in Parliament, as an elected Member of Parliament, which Mr Naughtie is not, he’s just a very, very highly paid bigot, to say that his comments are outrageous.

“If the BBC does not get him to make a full and complete apology by the end of today he should resign as a presenter of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and if the corporation does not take action against him then it proves what many in this House have suspected for a long time, that they are irredeemably biased and Europhiliac.”

Jim Naughtie
Jim said he didn’t mean to cause offence (Credit: YouTube/BBC)

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Speaker John Bercow said he would not seek to arbitrate on the matter of the BBC’s position on Brexit and said of Mr Francois: “I have known him for 35 years and there is no way on earth that I could imagine him in the National Front.”

Mr Bercow listed other members of the ERG, and said of Mr Rees-Mogg: “To suggest that there is some sort of National Front allegiance is quite wrong and, in my opinion, uncalled for.

“Let us try to lower the decibel level and treat other people’s views on either side of an argument with respect, debating the issues rather than resorting to slogans.”

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