BBC accused of ‘left-wing’ bias over Lord Lawson apology

The BBC was accused of being a ‘left-wing mouthpiece’ today after it issued a grovelling apology for failing to challenge Lord Lawson over a claim temperatures have not risen over the last 10 years.

Furious MPs said the decision to single out the peer showed the corporation had given up any ‘pretence’ of impartiality.

Former chancellor Lord Lawson made the claim during an interview broadcast on Radio 4’s Today programme in August.

The BBC had initially rejected complaints from viewers, claiming that it was important to give air time to ‘dissenting voices’ in the pursuit of fairness.

However it has now bowed to pressure and admitted that it breached its own editorial guidelines on accuracy and impartiality.

Tory MP Philip Davies told MailOnline: ‘It is what you would expect from the BBC. It is typical BBC.

‘They have given up any pretence of being impartial these days. They have become a mouthpiece for any left-wing, pro-EU Labour party cause.

‘If they think they might have upset some of their left wing cheerleaders then of course they are going to apologise profusely.

‘I look forward to them apologising profusely when a right wing politician is challenged. I think we would be waiting a long time.’  

Andrew Bridgen, Tory MP for North West Leicestershire told MailOnline: ‘If the BBC had to apologise for every inaccuracy a Labour politician made on air they would never be able to have a Labour politician on.

‘The position sounds rather extreme to me – the BBC very seldom allow climate sceptics on the programme.’  

According to The Guardian, the BBC’s executive complaints unit accepted that the assertions ‘were, at the least, contestable and should have been challenged’.

During the interview with presenter Justin Webb, Lord Lawson said official figures showed that ‘during this past 10 years, if anything, mean global temperature, average world temperature, has slightly declined’.

He added that the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ‘has confirmed that there has been no increase in extreme weather events’.

The BBC replied in writing to a complaint lodged by Dr Tim Thornton, a retied GP from Yorkshire.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, Colin Tregear, BBC complaints director, said: ‘I hope you’ll accept my apologies […] for the breach of editorial standards you identified.’

The Today programme received similar complaints in 2014, when it was accused of giving ‘undue weight to Lord Lawson’s views’. 

Ninety seven per cent of climate change scientists, climate-warming trends over the past century are extremely likely due to human activities, according to Nasa. 

The IPCC has also forecast a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century.

When asked for a comment, the BBC gave the following statement. 

It said that during the programme, Al Gore appeared and spoke about his new film, the US Government’s approach and the global effort to tackle climate change and spoke to filmmaker Fisher Stevens, who directed the 2016 film ‘Before the Flood’, prior to Lord Lawson’s interview.

It added: ‘In the interview our aim was to focus on the subsidy regime and Mr Gore’s claim that there are policy makers who do not “join the dots”, and Justin Webb challenged Lord Lawson in both these areas.

‘The next morning we fact checked the claims around levels of subsidies for renewables and fossil fuels and we ran through the latest scientific evidence on extreme weather events and the links to climate change.

Lord Lawson (pictured on the Andrew Marr show in 2016) said figures showed that ‘during this past 10 years […] average world temperature has slightly declined’

Temperature data from four international science institutions. All show rapid warming in the past few decades and that the last decade has been the warmest on record. Data sources: NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Met Office Hadley Centre/Climatic Research Unit and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Source: Nasa

‘We appreciate that listeners may disagree with the position Lord Lawson takes on this issue, but his stance is reflected, for example, in the current US administration which has distanced itself from the Paris Agreement. 

‘As we pride ourselves on hearing opinions from all sides on Today, we are confident that we gave listeners the context and facts to make their own minds up about the views expressed.

‘The BBC is absolutely committed to impartial and balanced coverage on this complex issue. 

‘Our position remains exactly as it was – we accept that there is broad scientific agreement on climate change and we reflect this accordingly. 

‘We do however on occasion offer space to dissenting voices where appropriate as part of the BBC’s overall commitment to impartiality.’

Professor Peter Stott of the Met Office said: ‘Meticulous observations across the world show clearly that average global temperatures have increased over the past decade, with the three warmest years on record occurring during that period.’ 

Global temperatures increase vs Lord Lawson’s claims 

Pictured is a stock image of a scorched desert

When speaking on the Today programme in August, Lord Lawson denied the existence of climate change while discussing former US vice president Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power.

During the interview, Lord Lawson said: ‘It’s the same old clap-trap. He’s the sort of bloke who goes around saying the end of the world is nigh. 

‘We should be concentrating on real problems like North Korea and disease.

‘To divert resources and energy to non-problems is really ridiculous.’

Below are a list of claims made by Lord Lawson during the programme and the response by experts.

Lawson vs climate change experts 

Lord Lawson’s comments		Experts’ comments
UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ‘has confirmed that there has been no increase in extreme weather events’		Dr Peter Stott from the UK Met Office went on the Today programme the next day to refute these claims. He said : ‘We know that 2016 was the warmest on record, over a degree warmer than late 19th Century levels, so this claim that we heard from Nigel Lawson that there’s been cooling is simply not true’
‘During the past 10 years, if anything, mean global temperature, average world temperature, has slightly declined’		Prof Richard Betts from the University of Exeter said in a statement: ‘The official figures do not show that the global mean temperature ‘has slightly declined’. In fact, they show the opposite – global mean temperature has increased during the past 10 years. ‘The last three years were warmer than the previous seven, and indeed were the warmest on record, and this year is also shaping up to be nearly as warm (probably not quite as warm as last year since the influence of the El Nino has passed, but still a very warm year).’