Laura Kuenssberg donned a pink suit while Clive Myrie sported a brown tie as BBC presenters are under fiercely tough rules over impartiality amidst their general election coverage
Presenters turned out in pink for the BBC’s election coverage on Thursday night, leaving many bemused.
The cheerful hue was sported by the likes of Laura Kuenssberg while Clive Myrie was similarly spotted in a brown tie. The unorthodox shade however is understood to be part of the service’s strict impartiality rules.
With pink being one of the few colours not representing the major political parties, presenters donned rose-coloured clothing to stay impartial. Broadcasters are under strict rules during elections so as to not be seen to give unequal coverage or endorse any particular candidate or party.
Ofcom warned broadcasters in April to expect them to come down “like a tonne of bricks” if they break impartiality rules ahead of the prospective election campaign. Broadcasting director Cristina Nicolotti Squires told BBC Radio 4’s Media Show at the time: “If broadcasters want to take the risk of having a high-profile politician, who’s not standing for a seat hosting a programme, they’re going to have to work bloody hard to make sure that those programmes are duly impartial.
“And we will come down on them like a ton of bricks [if they aren’t].” Meanwhile, BBC presenters were issued a fresh warning last month over clothing after Gary Lineker came under fire for ‘breaching’ the rules by wearing items from his own range for Next.
Major shocks from the election coverage so far have included Jeremy Corbyn winning Islington North as an independent, Grant Shapps losing his seat to Labour while Labour’s Jonathan Ashworth losing to an Independent candidate in Leicester South. Therese Coffey lost her seat of Suffolk Coastal to Labour in another major shock, as did Johnny Mercer to Labour in Plymouth.
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan lost by a 12,000 majority to the Liberal Democrats in Chichester, while former Home Secretary Suella Braverman clinched onto her seat in Fareham. Richard Holden narrowly kept his seat in Basildon by just 20 votes after a recount had to be ordered, while Penny Mordaunt lost to Labour by less than 100 votes.
Meanwhile Nigel Farage has won his first seat after eight attempts at standing in various elections over the past three decades after Reform were elected in Clacton. Exit polls put the Tories on to lose in their biggest defeat of the 20th and 21st centuries, projecting Labour to take a staggering 410 seats.
