Thread by @JolyonMaugham

A short potted history of the BBC's coverage of Vote Leave's cheating in the Referendum.

It begins here, when @GoodLawProject began judicial review proceedings against the Electoral Commission. A balanced piece of coverage (by Brian Wheeler.) /1 bbc.com/news/uk-politi…

Next. The Electoral Commission having vigorously denied the allegations before @GoodLawProject issues proceedings it then agrees to reopen the investigation when we do. Again, fair reporting (by Brian Wheeler). bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

Next. It becomes clear to Vote Leave the Electoral Commission is going to find against it. The BBC agrees to carry a story from Matthew Elliott on the day after the England World Cup match. Look at the sequencing (and the summary "refuting the findings"). bbc.co.uk/news/uk-447031…

I make this point - remember the BBC can carry this story whenever it wants - and the BBC's Editor, Live Political Programmes smears me (not for the first or last time) as a conspiracy theorist.

Now at this point in time, only two groups have seen the draft report: the Electoral Commission (who can't talk) and Vote Leave. No one can second guess what Matthew Elliott says about the draft report. At this stage the coverage is taken up by the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg.

And here's what she reports. This is the softening up article on 21 June.

She allows Vote Leave to mark its own homework. She doesn't come to @goodlawproject for a quote. She treats the offender's word as being of the same value as the regulator's. bbc.com/news/amp/uk-po…

And then the notorious 4 July article. Again by Laura Kuenssberg. No one else has seen the report at this stage. She doesn't come to @GoodLawProject for comment. She gives Matthew Elliot free reign. An extraordinary piece of reporting from the BBC. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

The BBC also, separately, carries this interview between Laura Kuenssberg and Matthew Elliott in which he is given free reign to undermine the findings of the Electoral Commission. bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-pol…

At this stage the damage is done. The hugely dominant BBC has allowed itself to be used completely to undermine the findings of the Electoral Commission that Vote Leave cheated at a time when no one else could respond.

Here is the article the BBC publishes on the day the findings come out. No quote from @GoodLawProject. No by-line. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

Then in September comes the judicial review finding in which the High Court also finds Vote Leave cheated. The BBC initially prints a highly inaccurate story and I am furious about it on twitter. Brian Wheeler eventually comes to me and amends his story. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

The BBC nevertheless carries this lengthy quote from Matthew Elliott which is simply and demonstrably false. The BBC makes no effort to interrogate the falsehoods it is producing.

There then follows a lengthy period in which the BBC carries more broadcast interviews with Leave campaigners smearing the Electoral Commission's findings. My only appearance on the BBC is back in June 2018, when I have not seen the findings and before the court judgment.

Finally yesterday, Vote Leave admit the inevitable and throw the towel in. The BBC carries a short piece with a lengthy self-serving quote from Vote Leave. No real comparison with Vote Leave's original bluster. Again, no quote from @GoodLawProject. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politi…

The real penalty for cheating is political. It undermines the validity of the result - a fact acknowledged even by Matthew Elliott.

This is why the BBC's failures matter. The BBC allowed itself to be used to reduce or extinguish all political penalty.

https://twitter.com/adriandkelly/status/1111907681957306368?s=19

Lots of "what to do" questions, understandably. But nothing good can happen at the BBC for so long as its Head behaves like this.

https://twitter.com/JolyonMaugham/status/1080327706024112128?s=19