The BBC have dropped a Panorma investigation into Lord Ashcroft’s tax dodging ways, according to
The Guardian:
Intense pressure from Conservative officials helped to force the BBC to quietly drop a lengthy investigation into Lord Ashcroft, the party’s billionaire backer and deputy chairman. Panorama, the corporation’s current affairs programme, was expected to focus on Ashcroft’s business empire and his use of offshore entities.
Letters and personal interventions by senior Conservatives have increased pressure on programme makers, according to insiders. There is now little prospect of the investigation being broadcast before the general election.
The disclosure follows previous claims that the programme was shelved for legal reasons. The delay will please David Cameron but will cause concern that the BBC has been silenced in the runup to the general election. The Tories are anxious to suppress more publicity about Ashcroft’s affairs after the outcry over the billionaire’s belated revelation that he was not domiciled in the UK for tax purposes, and so paid no tax on overseas assets.
The spin on this is that it would be unfair of the BBC to pay attention to these charges on the eve of an election, but the truth can never be unfair. As anybody who isn’t a Tory hack can see, it’s actually much more unfair to the voter to cover up the truth of these allegations and make the Tories seem more principled and less grasping than they actually are. The BBC however is instituationally incapable of doing anything but cower in the face of sustained pressure and is here actively hindered by its chapter and culture of strict impartiality, which is sensitive to charges of being unfair.