Today programme’s right-on Christmas: Greta Thunberg, Grayson Perry and Lady Hale will guest edit BBC Radio 4 show amid criticism for ‘Left-wing bias’
- Grayson Perry, Greta Thunberg and Lady Hale will all edit the Today programme
- The Christmas guest editors also include George the poet and Charles Moore
- Critics claimed the festive line up showed the corporation’s ‘Left-wing bias’
- The BBC insisted they were chosen as guest editors for their ‘original thinking
Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Supreme Court president Lady Brenda Hale have been chosen to guest edit the Today programme.
They are among five people who will take over the BBC Radio 4 show during the Christmas and New Year period.
Cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry, rapper George The Poet and Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph, will also guest edit the high-profile news show.
Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Supreme Court president Baroness Hale will guest edit the Today programme over the festive period
But the choice of guest editors has already proved controversial with claims that – with the exception of the extremely conservative Mr Moore – they are slanted on the other side of the political spectrum.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen said: ‘Well it sounds like they’ll be lining them up to celebrate Jeremy Corbyn’s great electoral victory.
‘It’s the BBC’s normal left-wing remain bias. It’s what we’ve come to expect from the BBC. I am disappointed but not surprised at their selection.’
He added that he would have liked to have seen more guests from the centre-right be selected.
Mr Bridgen, 55, said: ‘Some prominent leave supporters and some from the centre-right, especially given that that is the position of the majority of their license fee payers.’
Each programme will include an interview with the guest editor.
Lady Hale, who delivered the ruling that Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament was unlawful, gives the programme a tour of the Supreme Court and has asked Today to explore the issue of coercive control – extreme psychological and emotional abuse.
Miss Thunberg, 16, who has spearheaded a global movement and school strikes around the world, will speak to leading climate change figures and hear from indigenous, frontline activists.
She has commissioned reports from the Antarctic and Zambia and an interview with Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England.
Spoken word artist George The Poet will report from Uganda and explore issues around identity, questioning the idea of ‘value’ and how society apportions it.
Cross-dressing artist Grayson Perry, pictured, will also host the show over the festive period
Turner Prize winner Perry will examine stereotypes and Moore will focus on freedom of expression.
This year’s guests will hope to fare better than rock singer PJ Harvey did in 2013.
Her schedule was described as ‘Left-wing tosh’, and former Labour MP (now an independent) Ian Austin, a former minister who served as a close aide to Gordon Brown, said it was the worst he had heard in 30 years.
She filled the show with polemics from left-wing activists and bizarre musical interludes.
Previous guest editors have included the Duke of Sussex, Angelina Jolie, John Bercow, Sir Lenny Henry and Professor Stephen Hawking.
Sir Richard Branson and presenter David Dimbleby have also appeared as guests.
They will each guest edit the programme between December 26 and 31.
The Today guest editors are part of the BBC Radio and Sounds Christmas line up, which is fully unveiled on Monday.
A Today spokesman said: ‘Our guest editors are chosen for their talent, original thinking and varied perspectives. The issues they address are idiosyncratic and, in the main, not party political.’