Lord Adonis Has Picked A Fight With The BBC And He Is Losing Badly

'Siri, give me the worst possible take on UK broadcasting.'

On Wednesday morning, ‘Arch-RemainerLord Adonis appeared on the BBC and seemed to be pleasantly pleased about being given the opportunity to stick it to John Redwood over Brexit live on air.

About to out John Redwood as supporter of 2nd referendum on @vicderbyshire. Have discovered pre-2016 article where Redwood said 2nd referendum on Brexit terms democratically essential! So much for Boris telling us all to shut up & fall in line.

— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) February 14, 2018

Then, just a few hours later, the ex-Labour Minister appeared to change his tune dramatically.

BBC on ropes. Sport largely gone to Sky. Quality drama gone to Netflix. BBC news increasingly Brexit, weak & simply Govt press releases. If Netflix set up a sharp, balanced News service, what would be left besides local radio, a desert island & a few good foreign correspondents?

— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) February 14, 2018

Adonis, an ardent and vocal Remainer, appears to have been upset by the BBC’s extensive coverage of Boris Johnson’s big Brexit speech, a long and rambling monologue that was widely panned but received much airtime.

A rhetorical, occasionally gently amusing, but entirely vacuous speech from Boris Johnson, then under questions he gibbered,waffled and time and again demonstrated his ignorance of the complexities of Brexit. How tragic that our future should be in the hands of such simpletons!

— Tony Robinson (@Tony_Robinson) February 14, 2018

Regardless, a stream of BBC personalities soon leapt at the opportunity to take issue with Adonis’s statement.

GARY LINEKER

What a load of complete and utter tosh.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) February 14, 2018

The BBC’s most highly paid presenter? https://t.co/ghSqOyewFw

— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) February 14, 2018

JEREMY VINE

pic.twitter.com/q7bGSoHMPN

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) February 14, 2018

DARA O BRIAIN

Nonsense. For a start: Hey Duggee, Blue Planet, 6radio, inside No. 9, Strictly and a load of other stuff that maybe you don’t enjoy but millions of others do. 6M still get their football from Match of the Day, btw, rather than Sky/ BT. Throw in Netflix, and now compare £142.50?

— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) February 14, 2018

‘THE THICK OF IT’ WRITER, SIMON BLACKWELL

And now on Twitter, Julius Nicholson Talks Bollocks. https://t.co/xIDz2xcCm1

— Simon Blackwell (@simonblackwell) February 14, 2018

PRESENTER DAN WALKER

Dear me. You read some guff on twitter but this just about takes the top spot today. Misinformed garbage.

— Dan Walker (@mrdanwalker) February 14, 2018

ACTOR MATTHEW BAYTON

You are entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts. BBC are undeniably making quality drama, comedy and factual programmes - critical and commercial successes watched all over the world. https://t.co/vK0vX4btOh

— Mathew Baynton (@realmatbaynton) February 14, 2018

HISTORY BUFF GREG JENNER

I loved it when Netflix made Detectorists, and Horrible Histories, and Inside Number 9, and Panorama, and Horizon, and Exodus, and The A Word, and Line of Duty, and Peaky Blinders, and Sherlock, and Doctor Who, and Taboo, and Wolf Hall, and Motherland, and Doctor Foster, and... https://t.co/GZzbBnmYqx

— Greg Jenner (@greg_jenner) February 14, 2018

SPORTS CORRESPONDENT RICHARD CONWAY

Yes, sport on BBC largely gone... that is if you exclude Premier League, 6 Nations, Summer and Winter Olympics, Wimbledon, World Cup, FA Cup, women's super league, return of cricket in 2020 plus live streaming of 1000 hours a year for sports such as swimming, hockey + basketball.

— Richard Conway, BBC (@richard_conway) February 14, 2018

As well as plenty of non-BBC folk.

You, in a barrel, tweeting about Brexit. https://t.co/cIQUzohakA

— David Quantick (@quantick) February 14, 2018

*cracks knuckles*

even if that were true, we’d still be left with world-renowned radio services, R&D dept, Children’s programming, foreign-language services, “digital output” across a range of media types, training and skills development, knowledge and learning for all ages… https://t.co/4zPMKpXvGv

— Mo McRoberts 🦄 (@nevali) February 14, 2018

Siri, give me the worst possible take on UK broadcasting https://t.co/hmaoG4KB1I

— Dan Hett (@danhett) February 14, 2018

Of course there were some that agreed.

Radio 3 but I largely agree. Facilitated Farage and a shadow of its pre-Savile self

— Paul Mason (@paulmasonnews) February 14, 2018

In December, Adonis quit as the Government’s infrastructure tsar, delivering a scathing verdict on the Prime Minister’s approach to Brexit.

The Labour peer resigned as chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission, claiming Theresa May had become the “voice of Ukip” and the “extreme” right-wing of her party.

He said he was “duty bound” to oppose the Government’s ‘Brexit Bill’ when it comes to the House of Lords

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