MISREPRESENTATION BY THE BBC

That this House notes with amazement and distaste misrepresentations in recent BBC news bulletins involving their Social Affairs Correspondent, Polly Toynbee, including the cases of Mrs Flourou, alleged to have waited two years for treatment for varicose veins, when in fact she had turned down two offers of hospital treatment; and of the former student, Ms Vicky Byrne, alleged to have been forced to leave university through poverty, unable to afford a tea bag and taking a job as a cleaner to pay off debts, when in fact she has fallen behind with her studies, was living in her parents' substantial home in Cheam and was cleaning her mother's fridge; and calls on the BBC and its reporters to apologise and then display greater objectivity and competence.