Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has apologised for retweeting a message criticising the “sheer tawdry Trumpian shabbiness” of the government’s response to the partygate scandal.
The broadcaster had shared a tweet from former Tory cabinet minister Rory Stewart with her 446,000 followers, in which he said “it is difficult to see how much more of this the party or our political system can survive”.
Stewart, who previously ran for leader of the Conservative party, was responding to a clip of culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ car-crash interview with Channel 4 News, in which she defended the prime minister’s handling of the publication of Sue Gray’s update on the lockdown parties across Downing Street and Whitehall.
Emily wrote: “I have deleted my earlier retweet of the below and would like to apologise for the hurt I have caused.
“For the avoidance of doubt I accept I should have added extra context – it was retweeted in haste – and was wrong to do.”
With her tweet, she also re-shared Stewart’s original message.
A spokeswoman for the BBC declined to comment further when contacted by the PA news agency.
Emily was previously reprimanded by her BBC bosses after sharing a tweet from former Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan, in which he asked what the punishment was for “failing to properly protect the country from a pandemic?”
Upholding complaints made about the post, the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit said: said: “The retweeted material was clearly controversial, implying sharp criticism of the government, and there was nothing in the surrounding context to make clear that Ms Maitlis was not endorsing it or to draw attention to alternative views.”
There are strict rules in place for BBC’s current affairs staff in relation to social media, given broadcaster’s requirement for unbiased reportage.
BBC director-general Tim Davie warned staff over their use of social media when he took on the role at the end of 2020.
In the summer of 2020, the BBC ruled that Emily had breached their impartiality guidelines with a monologue she delivered about Dominic Cummings’ trip to Barnard Castle during lockdown at the beginning of an episode of Newsnight.
This divided opinion on social media at the time, with Piers one of those defending Emily, suggesting she’d been thrown “under the bus” by her employers.