The BBC’s claim that it was first to report news of Andrea Leadsom’s withdrawal from the contest to become Tory leader and Britain’s next Prime Minister has been labelled “demonstrably untrue”.
Political website Guido Fawkes has claimed the scoop after showing it tweeted the news three minutes before BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg.
The tweet from Guido Fawkes
The tweet from Laura Kuenssberg
Following Leadsom’s announcement yesterday, which led to Theresa May taking the top job, the BBC has written a Twitter post claiming it was Kuenssberg, who tweets at @bbclaurak, who broke the story.
Linking to a series of tweets from Kuenssberg, the BBC News (UK) Twitter account said: “Anatomy of a political scoop – how @bbclaurak broke news of @andrealeadsom’s #ToryLeadership exit.”
In response, Media Guido, the website’s media news arm, said in a blog post: “Laura Kuenssberg follows Guido on Twitter.
“Her tweet was by definition not a scoop – as over 200,000 followers of Guido’s Twitter feed know.
“Lobby hacks were already furiously re-tweeting Guido before Laura followed up three minutes later. So this bit of bragging from BBC News is just demonstrably untrue.”
The BBC has declined to comment.
Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog
