The Tories vs the Beeb

In the wake of BrandRossGate, the Tories have sensed a political opportunity, and – to some extent – they’re making something of it.  How so?  Well, David Cameron attacks the BBC in a piece for today’s Sun.  Whilst the shadow culture minister, Jeremy Hunt, does similar in a post for Centre Right.

By-and-large, the articles touch on the same issues – “decency” and “bloated salaries”, for instance – although it’s striking that Cameron dwells on a topic that the Tories have tended to shy away from in the past: namely, the “political bias” of the Beeb.  Here’s the relevant passage:

“But, I can hear the cry, what about the left-wing bias?

My answer is: yes, the BBC does have what even Andrew Marr called an “innate liberal bias”, principally because it does not have to behave like a commercial organisation and make its money from scratch every year.