Andrew Marr admits the BBC misquoted David Cameron on foxhunting

After Mr S’s colleague Camilla Swift wrote of the Twitterstorm that engulfed David Cameron after Andrew Marr claimed on air that the PM had declared foxhunting to be his favourite sport, the presenter has now come clean about the interview. Marr has admitted to The Spectator on Twitter that he was wrong to claim that Cameron told Countryside Alliance magazine that foxhunting was his favourite sport:

Tweets by laidmanr

His confession comes after the BBC press office failed to respond to calls for comment from The Spectator. Likewise, Twitter accounts for the BBC Press Office and Andrew Marr Show have remained quiet on the topic, as has the account of Rob Burley, the editor of the Marr Show, despite a tweet from the Countryside Alliance saying that the story was wrong.  

https://twitter.com/BBCMarrShow

This leads Mr S to wonder why the BBC failed to look into the error after it occurred? Several people suggested on social media that the corporation may have made a mistake in their research, but substantially more people rushed to blast Cameron for something he never said.

Mr S understands that after the show was over, Cameron rounded on Marr, furious with the way he had been treated compared to the other guests Nicola Sturgeon and Vince Cable. His communications guru Craig Oliver also joined in, pointing out that the PM hadn’t even been allowed to finish a sentence. Mr S wonders whether the foxhunting misquote might have triggered Cameron’s outburst.

Whether a cock-up or a conspiracy, surely it’s time for the BBC to issue an official apology to Cameron for the ill-timed pre-election blunder on a show which averages around 2 million viewers per episode. Otherwise claims of ‘BBC bias’ may begin to fly. Update: The BBC have responded with the following statement:

‘Andrew referred to a piece in the Countryside Alliance magazine written by the Prime Minister which promised the free vote. Andrew had been given a quote from an article reporting the contents of the piece which included the words “This is my sport that I love and I want to be able to do it legally.” The way the piece was written gave the impression that these were Mr Cameron’s own words. After returning to the original article, we accept that this reading was incorrect and that our error was an honest mistake.’