Lee Anderson’s GB News interview with Suella Braverman was fine because it was classed as a “current affairs programme,” the media regulator has found.
Ofcom said politicians are allowed to present current affairs programmes as long as they are not standing for election and “due impartiality is preserved”.
“Having assessed the nature and format of the programme – which included the combination of a pre-recorded interview, in-depth studio analysis and panel discussion – we were satisfied it was a current affairs programme,” it said.
GB News was thrown into a fresh Tory bias row after announcing the home secretary would be interviewed by her own party’s deputy chairman last month.
Mr Anderson, the divisive Ashfield MP, met the home secretary for a cosy sit down after her return from the US, where she delivered a speech calling for a crackdown on gay and female asylum seekers.
GB News was found to have breached impartiality rules when chancellor Jeremy Hunt was interviewed by married Tory MPs Esther McVey and backbencher Philip Davies ahead of his spring budget in March.
Ofcom’s rules say: “News, in whatever form, must be reported with due accuracy and presented with due impartiality. No politician may be used as a newsreader, interviewer or reporter in any news programmes unless, exceptionally, it is editorially justified.”
But, announcing its decision not to pursue complaints about the latest GB News show, Ofcom said: “The programme included an appropriately wide range of significant views on immigration and border control, which were given due weight.”