Keir Starmer has condemned Gregg Wallace’s “completely inappropriate and misogynistic” response to the misconduct allegations made against him.
The MasterChef presenter blamed “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age” in a video he posted on his Instagram at the weekend.
His comments came three days after it was announced he would be stepping away from his duties on the BBC show while production company Banijay conducts an investigation into his behaviour.
Wallace said: “I’ve been doing MasterChef for 20 years – amateur, professional and celebrity – and I think in that time I have worked with over 4,000 contestants of all different ages, all different backgrounds, all walks of life.
“And apparently now, I’m reading in the paper, there’s been 13 complaints in that time. Now, in the newspaper I can see the complaints coming from a handful of middle-class women of a certain age just from Celebrity MasterChef. This isn’t right.”
“In over 20 years of television, can you imagine how many women, female contestants on MasterChef, have made sexual remarks or sexual innuendo – can you imagine?” he concluded.
In a separate post, he added: “[I’ve done] twenty years [of] Celebrity MasterChef, amateur, professional, Eat Well for Less, Inside the Factory. Do you know how many staff – all different sorts of staff, you imagine the people I’ve worked with – complained about me in that time? Absolutely none. Zero. Seriously.”
Asked about the controversy this morning, the prime minister’s official spokesman said the allegations were “deeply concerning” and also revealed that culture secretary Lisa Nandy had been in touch with the BBC to discuss “this matter and wider workplace culture issues to seek assurances that there are robust processes in place to deal with complaints”.
He added: “Clearly, the comments that we’ve seen from the individual over the weekend are completely inappropriate and misogynistic.”
The spokesman went on: “More broadly, the BBC is conducting an independent review into workplace culture which must deliver clear and timely recommendations and it’s essential that staff and the wider public have confidence that the BBC takes this issue seriously.”
Last Thursday, Banijay confirmed to the PA news agency: “This week the BBC received complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct while working with presenter Gregg Wallace on one of our shows.
“Whilst these complainants have not raised the allegations directly with our show producers or parent company Banijay UK, we feel that it is appropriate to conduct an immediate, external review to fully and impartially investigate.
“While this review is under way, Gregg Wallace will be stepping away from his role on MasterChef and is committed to fully co-operating throughout the process.”
The spokesperson added: “Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately.”
A BBC spokesperson added: “We take any issues that are raised with us seriously and we have robust processes in place to deal with them.”
Wallace has denied the allegations.