The PM's sister, Rachel Johnson says she made a 'joke taken out of context' about the BBC and Rupert Murdoch, and, in a further lack of clarification, 'it never happened.
The Mail picked up this line from Ms Johnson's contribution to a Radio Centre conference, talking about the BBC's struggle to survive "Especially when you have got people like Rupert Murdoch going to Chequers and saying to my brother, as he dandles Wilf on his knee, 'Boris you've got to get rid of the BBC, it's eating my lunch, they got a website, they're a publisher, it's not competitive'. You can see that there are pressures from all sides.'"
The Radio Centre represents the interests of commercial radio. Their website has a whole section headed "tackling the BBC's dominance in radio".
The Daily Mail sought a response from News UK - is it a denial ? "The supposed quote is preposterous. It is well known that our focus has been on the threat of the big digital platforms to publishers large and small." This morning Rachel tweeted....
Sorry to disappoint but Rupert Murdoch NEVER told the PM to get rid of the BBC as I am quoted as saying in today's Daily Mail. It never happened. Joke taken out of context. Totally my fault for agreeing to say "a few words" about future of the media. Apols to all who got excited.
— Rachel Johnson (@RachelSJohnson) November 13, 2021
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