BBC Radio 5 live mainstreams an antisemitic trope

The fourth and final hour of the November 1st edition of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Stephen Nolan show was devoted to a review of the papers with Nolan’s guests being former MP Edwina Currie and journalist and former editor of the Daily Mirror David Banks. At one point (from 03:50:00 here) the conversation turns to Labour Party leader Ed Miliband and his unfortunate run-in with a bacon sandwich earlier this year.Stephen Nolan 1 11

Currie mentions actress Maureen Lipman’s recent article on the topic of the Labour party, from which she appears to have rather bizarrely concluded that Miliband’s bacon sandwich was an affront to Jewish Labour voters in the UK. That cue prompts David Banks to say:

“It didn’t even occur to me that it [the bacon sandwich] might offend the Jewish lobby.”

He later continues:

“I mean if we’re not careful we’re going to turn into the east coast of America where, you know, where all of politics is in thrall…ehm…to the Jewish lobby and to the Irish lobby and as a result you get very, very distorted politics and good sense goes out of the window.”

Additional statements by Banks (who appears to believe that all British Jewish voters are automatically members of this all-powerful ‘lobby’ he promotes in such earnest) include:

“Was that the reason that ‘Bacongate’ took off? That he’d upset the Jewish lobby?”

“We can’t all observe dietary laws because it might offend the more powerful lobby – the Israeli lobby – which already has big brother America cow-towing to its every wish. I mean it really is unacceptable. It’s kind of un-British anyway…”  [all emphasis added]

Presenter Stephen Nolan makes no attempt whatsoever to curb Banks’ ‘Jewish lobby’ rant and thus we see yet another example of how the BBC enables the mainstreaming of antisemitic discourse in the UK.

Related articles:

 BBC News interviewee’s antisemitic slur goes unchallenged

BBC’s Simpson mainstreams trope used by anti-Israel campaigners

BBC defends employee’s use of term ‘Jewish lobby’

BBC’s ‘Hardtalk’ featured in CST report on antisemitic discourse

The numbers behind BBC promotion of the ‘Israel lobby’

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