In case there was any remaining doubt that ‘fact-checkers’ are just activists putting their own spin on events, the BBC has abandoned all pretence of impartiality by appointing a Labour Party activist who tweeted “I Love You Jeremy Corbyn” as a ‘political fact-checker’. The Mail has the story.
The BBC has been accused of “obvious bias” after its new political fact-checker was exposed as a hard-Left Labour activist who described Tory MPs as lower than “invertebrates” and said: “never trust a Tory”.
Oscar Bentley made his TV debut on Wednesday’s Politics Live, where he spoke on behalf of the broadcaster’s esteemed Political Research Unit, and was asked to analyse claims Rishi Sunak had made about crime during Prime Minister’s Questions.
He offered a critical analysis of the Tory leader’s use of statistics, saying Mr. Sunak had ignored figures for fraud and computer misuse and adding: “If you take crime actually recorded by police forces, that’s actually gone up.”
Mr Bentley, 25, joined the BBC in September and is expected to play a key role in helping to fact-check political debates in the run-up to the next General Election. The role requires absolute impartiality.
Yet the Daily Mail can reveal that he is actually a lifelong Labour supporter who canvassed for Corbyn at the last election and has repeatedly smeared Conservatives on social media – and at one point boasted about having shouted “Tories out!” at the gates of Downing Street.
Two months before polling day, Mr. Bentley used Twitter to tell followers “never trust a Tory”, and after that May’s local election in York he declared that “seven hours of door knocking yesterday paid off with three Labour wins in Hull Road Ward!”.
When Theresa May was attempting to enact Brexit, he wrote on Twitter: “Tory Government defeated in Parliament, what an early Christmas present” and in December 2018 said: “There are vertebrates, invertebrates, and then there are Tory MPs.”
The previous year he told followers how he’d visited Westminster, saying “shouting ‘Tories out!’ at the gates of Downing Street was immensely satisfying”, adding the hashtag “#toriesout”.
And in April 2019 he expressed “huge solidarity” with Extinction Rebellion, who were engaged in a demonstration in central London. He has also described Labour as “my lads”, and while at York University described himself as a “Lefty student journalist”.
In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, Bentley dubbed Anna Soubry, the remain supporting Conservative MP “literally the only Tory I actually like”. He also described the election of Boris Johnson in 2019 as a “f***ing car crash” and criticised “crusty tories” over education policy.
Mr. Bentley’s public Facebook page carries an image of him doctored to include Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign slogan “for the many not the few” and the words “Vote Labour”.
In a separate post, he uploaded an image of a terrier with a caption endorsing “dogs for Corbyn”, telling friends he was: “Spamming all of my social media with this pic because of the insanely cute doggy. Important politics too.”
On election night he posted: “please win Jeremy Corbyn, I love you so much, be my Prime Minister, please.”
Worth reading in full.
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