Uh oh. David Lammy is back in the spotlight again after Ofcom’s announcement today that it is investigating the shadow foreign secretary for breaching rules on his LBC show. The broadcasting regulator took to Twitter with the update, writing:
We’ve launched an investigation into David Lammy on LBC, broadcast on 29 March. We’re investigating whether this programme broke our rules on politicians acting as news presenters.
The indiscretion in question relates to the news that DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was stepping down from the top job. Lammy announced it on his programme, telling listeners ‘we’ve got breaking news’ before informing the audience of Donaldson’s resignation. 51 people submitted complaints about the comments, only weeks after Ofcom had reprimanded Jacob Rees-Mogg for making similarly newsy remarks on his GB News show. In fact, five episodes of GB News shows hosted by Conservative MPs have been found to have broken Ofcom rules and the regulator has warned the channel that another breach could result in ‘the imposition of a statutory sanction’. Oh dear…
Is LBC at risk of facing similar warnings? Now that Lammy’s comments are under investigation, GB News’s Alex Armstrong took to Twitter to goad the regulator. ‘Let’s see if the same people who lost their minds over it happening on GB News will say the same thing about LBC,’ he remarked. ‘I highly suspect they won’t though.’
Time will tell…
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