May 14, 2008 • 1 min read

BBC warns 6Music presenter George Lamb over election comments

BBC 6Music has warned presenter George Lamb after he appeared to back Boris Johnson on air before the London mayoral election, breaching BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality though not Ofcom rules.

BBC 6Music has issued a warning to its morning presenter George Lamb, though not because he's incredibly irritating and totally inappropriate for the Beeb's digital music station, but rather because he appeared to pledge on air support for Boris Johnson during the recent London mayor elections.

On the day of the election Lamb told his listeners "I know who I'm going to vote for, who has blond hair?". Although this wasn't explicit enough in its support for Boris to breach OfCom rules on political impartiality (the rules that James Whale broke, leading to his sacking from TalkSport), which is why he isn't being fired (much to the disappointment of every 6Music listener I know), his comment did breach the BBC's own editorial guidelines, hence the warning.

A spokesman for the digital station told reporters: "The problem is it breached BBC editorial guidelines on impartiality. It wasn't a breach of [the Ofcom broadcasting code] as there was with James Whale. [But] this was a breach of the guidelines which we do take seriously".

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