‘More than 400’ ask BBC to sack Nick Robinson

The BBC is thought to have received several hundred requests to fire its political editor Nick Robinson. The complaints come in the wake of a Facebook petition which argues that Robinson, a former national chairman of the Young Conservatives, is biased.

As The First Post reported last week, the group, which is called 'Nick Robinson should not be the BBC's political editor', claims that Robinson is "consistently unable to disguise his bias in favour of the Conservative Party". The group, which now has 2,340 members, argues that Robinson's coverage of the election campaign and the period of power-broking which followed was one-sided.

The group's creator, Peter Tennant, told The First Post that 438 members of the group had indicated that they planned to complain direct to the BBC about Robinson's alleged bias.

The BBC has said that it is "aware" of the Facebook campaign but would not comment on the number of complaints it had received so far about Nick Robinson (pictured above in the Parliamentary Pancake Day Race last year). A spokeswoman told The First Post: "We don't get into numbers of complaints when there's evidence of lobbying".

However, Tennant denies that the group is "lobbying" the BBC. He told The First Post: "I think it is very disappointing that the BBC are viewing legitimate and individual complaints as 'lobbying'. The main aim of the group was simply to encourage people to express their collective concerns about bias - in this case relating to Nick Robinson - to the BBC.

"I do not believe that the setting up of a Facebook group pointing people towards the BBC's complaints page constitutes 'lobbying'. On the contrary, I would suggest this is now the default pathway with which many people choose to express grievance."

He added: "While the BBC could argue that it is the persuasiveness of a complaint, not the number of complainers that matters, I think the fact that more than 2,000 people have expressed concerns about Nick Robinson on Facebook, and that many also claim to have written to the BBC, indicates this is a public concern that is worthy of attention. Unfortunately, by continuing to ignore a valid and widespread question, the BBC's assertion that 'impartiality lies at... (its) heart' appears rather unconvincing."

In his own complaint to the BBC, Tennant has picked out several incidents which he argues highlight Robinson's bias in favour of the Tories. These include Robinson arguing that "only" a coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats could be "strong and stable" while saying that a coalition between the Labour party and the Liberal Democrats would be "neither strong nor stable". Robinson also "consistently" referred to Gordon Brown as "unelected" and failed to hide his "clear pleasure" at David Cameron becoming Prime Minister.

"I do not feel that Nick Robinson is a bad reporter," Tennant concludes. "However, I am concerned that his apparent bias makes his position as the flagship BBC political editor untenable, given the BBC’s central commitment to impartiality."

Beyond the Facebook campaign, others have picked up on Robinson's reporting style, too. One of those watching Robinson announce David Cameron's arrival at 10 Downing Street was the Sunday Times columnist India Knight. On May 11 she tweeted: "Nick Robinson about to combust with joy." Later she added: "Note they're only shooting Robinson from the waist up. It's to hide the boner." ·