Via Conservative Home, this story from The Times (£):
“In an interview with The Times, Paul Maynard, the Conservative MP for Blackpool North & Cleveleys, described an incident in which some Labour MPs made faces, stretching their cheeks up and down as he spoke. It appeared to be an attempt to mimic him…”
(See also Telegraph, Mail, Press Association)
Whoever wrote the copy for the final newspaper review on this morning’s Today programme decided one particular detail wasn’t worth mentioning. Here’s how Evan Davis told it – see if you can spot what’s missing:
“The Times says the Conservative MP Paul Maynard has been mocked by colleagues in the House of Commons because he’s disabled. Mr Maynard has cerebral palsy and he tells the paper MPs appeared to pull faces to mimic him as he spoke in a debate. He says that carrying on regardless was one of the hardest things he’s had to do. The Times says MPs of all parties have condemned the general behaviour in the commons as cruel and despicable…”
There’s a similar omission in the BBC’s online paper review (h/t Craig):
The Times has Tory MP Paul Maynard, who has cerebral palsy, saying he was mocked by MPs during a Commons debate.
He says they pulled faces at him, and the paper calls it a “scandal”.
As Craig points out in the open thread, this brief item in the paper review is thus far the only mention of the story on the BBC website. There is, however, room for yet more Alastair Campbell-related publicity.
The BBC would be treating this very differently if Tories had been accused of mocking a disabled Labour MP.
UPDATE 4pm. NotaSheep and Span Ows point out in the comments that the phrase “mocked by colleagues” in the Today paper review goes further than merely covering for the Labour MPs involved by creating the impression that fellow Conservatives could be to blame. And Hippiepooter reminds us that when a non-entity Tory activist (not an MP) sent an email to a Tory councillor (not an MP) in Bradford in which he called a Labour agent “a cripple”, Newsnight led with it (here’s then editor Peter Barron’s response to the ensuing criticism.)
It’s worse than you think as it seems to me that the BBC deliberately used the phrase ‘has been mocked by colleagues’ to suggest that it was fellow Conservative MPs who poked fun at Paul Maynard rather than Labour MPs. The BBC love to push the ‘nasty party’ and ‘same old Tories’ lines whenever they can. The BBC’s anti-Conservative bias is pernicious and ever-present.
Snap! When I posted mine was the only reply???
Either my love of Doctor Who has given me the ability to manipulate time or ‘great minds…’
The subject of this site is bias and thus the fundamental honesty of the bBC. ‘Dishonesty; it’s what we do!’.
I’ve just blogged it too. Saw Craig’s comments below. I think it is worse than even you make out because the phrase “The Times says the Conservative MP Paul Maynard has been mocked by colleagues in the House of Commons because he’s disabled” makes it appear that it was his colleagues i.e. Conservative MPs. Few peopel would read “colleagues” as MPs of another party although it is written to mean “colleagues in Westminster”
>>The BBC would be treating this very differently if Tories had been accused of mocking a disabled Labour MP. <<
You’re right DB:-
http://order-order.com/2007/01/22/newsnight-replies-re-running-order/
The speech in question can be seen here (skip forward to 18:35:40).
Parliamentary broadcasting restrictions (designed to spare MPs’ blushes) require that the camera focuses on the person speaking so we don’t get so see who was mocking Maynard. However, here’s a screengrab of the chamber as he got up to speak. Maynard is on the left of the image, the Labour benches on the right. It shouldn’t be beyond the wit of a parliamentary journalist to work out who was in the chamber at the time and challenge them over this issue.
Perhaps Newsnight’s Michael Crick will do it. (I’m joking of course.)
I’ve tweeted Crick.
I wouldn’t bother; he’s only interested in tackling Tories.
Please noone hold your breathe. Labour MPs might confuse it with symptoms of cerebral palsy and mock you.
Honestly though, conservatives don’t go overboard over things like this. We register our distaste and move on. For lefties they make a huge song and dance. Not because of compassionate reasons, but they just see it in terms of a propaganda opportunity to smear their opponents.
Conservatives have more self-respect and more confidence in what they believe in.
I sense one of your Tweet posts coming on .. with tumbleweed blowing from Crick’s Tweet account.
I count 26 on the opposition benches, who is enough of a geek to recognise Labour MPs?
“who is enough of a geek to recognise Labour MPs?”
Michael Crick for one.
But as you say, this story won’t appeal to him.
Newsnight led with it (here’s then editor Peter Barron’s response to the ensuing criticism.)
That archive blog from Mr. Barron is a classic, along with the responses he got.Sadly, not much changes, which the BBC seems to have figured out and relies upon.
Got a mention on the Andrew Marr show. Guess what party was not mentioned by name
Yes. Sadly, these days you half expect a Labour Party man like Trevor Phillips to pick his words carefully – “the Paul Maynard MP problem, where he was obviously being mocked, according to his account, by other members of parliament.”
But Marr? He was just as careful as Phillips to avoid mentioning that it was Labour MPs who were pulling faces at Mr Maynard: “The other is a story about a Conservative MP with cerebral palsy who seems we think to have had a very hard time in the House of Commons itself.”
(And the BBC website is still not running an article about this story.)
Morning Craig,
The bBC is running with this story how as can only be expected from the bBC they have put a spin on it:
Trevor Phillips ‘sickened’ by Commons ‘mockery’ of MP
Equalities chief Trevor Phillips has told the BBC he felt “physically sick” at reports that a Conservative MP with cerebral palsy was mocked by other MPs.Paul Maynard told the Times Labour MPs had pulled faces at him in the Commons, saying he felt they were “taking the mick out of my disability“.Mr Phillips told the BBC Speaker John Bercow should look into the matter.Labour MP Tom Harris, who was not at the debate, has said no MP would attack someone for having a disability….But he told the Times on Saturday that some MPs had been making “exaggerated gesticulations. Mr Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, told BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show: “He was obviously being mocked, according to his account, by other members of Parliament – that to me is shocking, I felt physically sick when I read about it.”If that had happened in a football ground, the people mocking him would have been on CCTV, and they would have been whipped out of the ground and not let back...Labour MP Mr Harris told BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday that no MP would have deliberately targeted someone over their disability.He was not there but said he understood people were jeering until they realised there was “another issue”.Asked about the Top Gear row – which newspapers suggested could fall foul of the new Equality Act, Mr Phillips said: “I’m not going to get hot under the collar about schoolboy provocation
Nice to see the bBC say while MPs may ahve thrown abuse, they are pretty sure , well actually adament that it couldn nver have been ‘Labour MPs’ Phillips on the otherhand wants those who did so to face sharia law and the bBC finishes off with hinting that it may have all been schoolbiy stuff and so therefore not really worth bothering about.
Have I (and Span Ows) inadvertantly spotted another example of this subtle BBC misdirection – http://notasheepmaybeagoat.blogspot.com/2011/02/one-hundred-and-seventeenth-weekly-no.html