BBC News: Martine Croxall asks if she’s ‘allowed to be this gleeful’

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BBC executives are reportedly taking an allegation of bias on the part of one of their news presenters “very seriously”. On Sunday evening, Martine Croxall made reference to the news, adding: “Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well I am.”

The day after her comments were broadcast, the BBC said the presenter had been taken off air while the corporation investigated whether there had been a breach of its strict impartiality rules.

As a public broadcaster funded by the TV licence, it is expected not to appear as if it has a particular agenda or political view.  

Ms Croxall was presenting the Sunday night edition of The Papers, around 90 minutes after the former Prime Minister had released a statement stating that he would not be entering the race for Downing Street, despite reaching the threshold for MPs’ support.

On Monday, Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race minutes before the window for nominations closed, paving the way for Rishi Sunak to be put forward as the new Conservative Party leader and Prime Minister – the third this year.

During her introduction to the programme, she said: “Well this is all very exciting, isn’t it?” before adding: “Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well I am.”

In her first question to her guests, Ms Croxall also remarked: “Can we even show you the front pages just yet, have they arrived? No they haven’t arrived.

“It’s all a little bit, you know, lastminute.com isn’t it? Because all the front pages were probably out of date by the time we received them.”

Later, responding to a guest journalist’s joke about Mr Johnson, she replied: “I shouldn’t probably [laugh]. I’m probably breaking some terrible due impartiality rule by giggling.”

Today, the Mail said that Deborah Turness, the newly-installed news and current affairs executive at the Beeb, was integral to the swift response and “robust” action.

A BBC insider suggested to the paper that former ITN chief executive regarded the incident as “frustrating”, given how much the corporation tries to avoid allegations of bias, especially during the current political and economic turmoil.

Ms Croxall’s comments live on air attracted criticism from many viewers and several political figures, including Mr Johnson’s former Culture Secretary.

Nadine Dorries claimed on Twitter: “The BBC is a public service broadcaster paid for by the general public who overwhelmingly voted for a Conservative Government.

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“This lack of impartiality demonstrates how deep seated the bias is.”

Nick Timothy, a Downing Street adviser under Theresa May, wrote: “Whatever you think of Johnson, if you care about the BBC you cannot think this is in any way acceptable from one of its presenters.”

Meanwhile, Ben Obese-Jecty, a Tory activist, accused Ms Croxall of a “lapse of impartiality and professionalism”, adding that it “illustrates why so many accuse the BBC of bias”.

The BBC said in a statement yesterday: “BBC News is urgently reviewing last night’s edition of The Papers on the News Channel for a potential breach of impartiality.

“It is imperative that we maintain the highest editorial standards. We have processes in place to uphold our standards, and these processes have been activated.”

Last week, Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy was suspended for a week, after he swore at Northern Ireland minister Steve Baker following an interview – comments that were not broadcast on the channel, but were picked up on a livestream.

The publicly-owned, commercially run broadcaster said the outburst had breached its “strict” code of conduct.

Mr Guru-Murthy released a statement after the incident in which he said he had apologised to Mr Baker.

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