Did the BBC silence lockdown sceptics?

Did the BBC breach its own impartiality rules by keeping critics of the government’s pandemic response off the air during the first lockdown? I first made that accusation in 2020 in a witness statement I submitted to the High Court in an effort to challenge Ofcom’s ‘coronavirus guidance’, which I argued was a factor in the BBC’s one-sided coverage. The attempt failed, with Ofcom able to convince the court that its guidance only cautioned against broadcasting ‘harmful’ content.

Part of my evidence, which I remember being slightly embarrassed to submit, was that my invitations to appear on the BBC had dwindled to almost nothing since I’d become a critic of lockdown policy. I’ve spoken to other lockdown sceptics and they say the same thing, but it’s impossible to prove we were kept off the airwaves because of our heretical views. In my case, it might just be because the Beeb had decided I’d become a bit of a bore.

But a recent investigation by the Telegraph into the Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU), a secret ‘cell’ in Whitehall that worked with the government during the pandemic to monitor ‘misinformation’ and ‘disinformation’, suggests that the BBC’s editorial independence may have been compromised.