Nigel Farage’s lawyer has written to the BBC demanding an urgent apology after a furious row was sparked on yesterday’s episode of Newsnight.
The show’s host, Matt Chorley, repeatedly misquoted Mr Farage’s response to the murder of Henry Nowak.
While interviewing Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, Mr Chorley claimed three times that Mr Farage had called on Britons to demonstrate ‘white cold rage’ in response to the youngster’s tragic death.
But the Reform leader actually said ‘pure, cold rage’ in his emergency broadcast yesterday morning.
The Daily Mail has now seen a damning letter from his lawyer to the BBC, accusing the show’s host of ‘racialising’ Mr Farage’s response.
It blasts: ‘It converts a criticism of discriminatory conduct by the authorities into an apparent appeal to race.
‘It suggests that Mr Farage, far from condemning racialised treatment, was himself invoking race as a basis for public anger.
‘In a national debate in which his opponents are already accusing him of inflaming racial tension, that alteration is not inaccuracy at the margins.
Nigel Farage said Britons should respond with ‘pure, cold rage’ to the murder of Henry Nowak
Host Matt Chorley repeatedly claimed Mr Farage had called for ‘white, cold rage’
‘It is seriously defamatory, and on the material available it was deliberate.’
The four-page letter from Mr Farage’s counsel also suggests evidence that the misquote had been ‘delivered from notes’, suggesting it was scripted before the question was put to Mrs Badenoch.
They argue: ‘That raises an obvious and serious question as to how those words entered the programme’s production materials, and why no one checked them’.
While Mr Chorley has posted an apology to X this morning, Reform UK is demanding the BBC go further, while also dismissing the host’s claim that the misquote ‘didn’t change the content of the interview’.
Mr Farage’s lawyer has issued three key demands this morning, which the letter brands ‘non-negotiable’.
These are that, firstly, the BBC must publish a full written apology to Mr Farage on the BBC website and pin the apology to the top of its relevant social media accounts for seven days.
Secondly, the corporation must broadcast ‘a full apology on air on Newsnight’ with ‘due prominence, then share the on-air apology on the programme’s social media accounts.
Thirdly, Reform is demanding a ‘proper investigation’ into how the false quotation came to be said three times during the broadcast, and how they entered production materials without being checked.
Mr Chorley issued a personal apology to the Reform leader on his X account this morning
The BBC has been given until 4pm on Friday to issue a substantive response to Mr Farage’s lawyer
Mr Farage’s counsel also includes a stark warning that, given the row is now subject to potential legal proceedings, all documents and materials relating to the broadcast ‘must not be deleted, overwritten or otherwise destroyed’.
Reform’s lawyer says that until all three demands are met, neither Mr Farage nor any representative from Reform UK will appear on any BBC programme or platform.
The letter also includes a threat that Mr Farage may sue the BBC for damages should the party not be satisfied by the BBC’s response to their demands.
The lawyer has given the BBC until 4pm on Friday to provide their substantive response, but that the availability of last night’s episode on iPlayer must be corrected ‘immediately’.
The letter comes just days after The Mail on Sunday reported claims that the BBC’s flagship radio programme, Desert Island Discs, has ‘banned’ Mr Farage on the grounds that his presence would make woke staff ‘feel unsafe’.
On Sunday, Mr Farage warned: ‘I have come to expect nothing less from the BBC – their blatant bias has been obvious for years.
‘The BBC will have a rude awakening under a Reform government.’
This afternoon the BBC said they have now been in touch with Mr Farage directly to offer him and an apology, and promised that an apology will also be made at the start of tonight’s episode of Newsnight.
The corporation’s ‘corrections and clarifications’ page now says: ‘In an interview about the murder of 18 year old Henry Nowak, we mistakenly quoted the Reform UK leader Nigel Farage as saying people should respond to his death with a “white, cold rage”.
‘To be clear Mr Farage actually said “pure, cold rage” as had been stated earlier in the programme and we apologise to him for this error.
‘The programme has been removed from BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds.’
