BBC under fire after hiding Reform UK politician's affiliations
June Mummery, who was briefly a Brexit Party MEP before the UK left the EU and stood for Nigel Farage's rebranded party in the 2024 General Election, was presented by the BBC as a only concerned business owner.
The moment came during a broadcast of BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, in which the broadcaster looked at reaction to the UK-EU deal which was announced the previous day – and criticised by the fishing industry for extending the current arrangement with the EU by 12 years until 2038.
READ MORE: Labour's Brexit reset is 'horror show for Scottish fishermen', industry says
Reporting from the port of Brixham in Devon, the BBC said that they had been unable to find anyone willing to come in front of the camera to talk about the impact of the deal.
Instead, they introduced a spokesperson from 'one business in Lowestoft in Suffolk' – the constituency where Mummery stood for Reform UK in 2024.
Mummery then came on screen, with the banner naming her company – BFP Fish Auctioneers – but her political affiliation was not revealed.
June Mummery was platformed on the BBC without her links to Reform UK and the Brexit Party being made public (Image: BBC) She then said: 'I'm absolutely disgusted from what I've heard.
'When I heard that Keir Starmer was thinking of taking us back in for another four years, I mean, that is awful, but to hear 12, where's this 12 years come from?
'Brexit was a golden opportunity to take back full control of our ocean, our waters, create thousands of jobs for coastal communities, and that man has just stolen all our aspirations.'
Mummery was recognised by users on the social media platform BlueSky, who criticised the broadcaster for failing to disclose her political background.
According to a publicly available draft of the BBC's Editorial Guidelines, from 2024, the broadcaster should make clear such a contributor's affiliations.
READ MORE: Scotland 'absorbed into England' by Acts of Union, says top legal expert
The guidance states: 'It should not be assumed that contributors to BBC output are unbiased or impartial … it may be necessary, when relevant, to give appropriate information about affiliations, funding or particular viewpoints.'
It adds: 'The key test is to consider whether the audience would be misled if such information was not made available.
'It may also be necessary to consider whether such affiliations might risk undermining trust in the contributor's professional credentials or in the perceived authenticity of their experiences.'
According to Reform UK's website, Mummery was their fisheries spokesperson before the 2024 General Election.
Nigel Farage's Reform are currently sitting at the top of UK-wide pollsJournalist James Stewart said: 'This is such a basic fail of good journalism.
'There's a massive opp[ortunity] for the BBC to claim the role of trusted source among partial media and AI slop, yet News keeps doing shit like this.'
A second user added: 'It looks very much like the BBC Breakfast team either failed to Google 'June Mummery' during the process of agreeing to have her on, or have obscured her Reform UK role.'
Journalist Ian Fraser said: 'BBC News being less than transparent about Reform UK's fisheries spokeswoman June Mummery.'
The BBC has been approached for comment.
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