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Making the news or breaking it: a unique problem for the BBC

The argument over whether the BBC 'orchestrated' the resignation of a Labour shadow minister for political effect is more than it seems.

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Cameron looking pleased in PMQ's after Doughty's live resignation

It’s a storm in a tea-cup, they say. It’s just a bunch of barmy Corbynistas blaming the failures of their hero on some massive right-wing media conspiracy. Move on. Grow up. This is how the media work. 

The ‘on air’ resignation of a relatively unknown shadow business minister, Stephen Doughty, on the BBC’s Daily Politics last Tuesday may not rate very highly on the political agenda, but the brief searchlight it shone into the nation’s public broadcaster at a time of parliamentary turmoil and institutional crisis is instructive.