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May 8, 2003updated 17 May 2007 11:30am

Tories angry over BBC poll coverage

By Press Gazette

Conservative Central Office is compiling a “detailed report” to back up complaints it will make to the BBC over what the party says was “biased and unprofessional” coverage of the local elections by journalists.

A spokesman confirmed that Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith will send copies of the report, once compiled, to BBC director general Greg Dyke and the corporation’s board of governors.

It is understood Duncan Smith expressed outrage last week after the BBC’s post-election coverage supposedly reported the Tory wins of local council seats at “500 or so”, as opposed to the 650 they eventually won.

The BBC said it couldn’t comment on the report until it was seen. “Once we do see it, we’ll be in a better position to comment,” a spokeswoman said.

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