A sudden flip-flop to support the Tories is not likely to hurt royal documentary host Amol Rajan should he run to be the BBC’s next political editor, senior figures at the corporation said last night.
It was claimed yesterday that when Mr Rajan was editor of Left-wing newspaper The Independent, he had agreed at the 11th hour to back the Conservatives in the 2015 general election if then-prime minister David Cameron attended the birthday party of the paper’s owner, Evgeny Lebedev.
Many readers were shocked after reading months of Labour praises.
But the about-face does not seem to have harmed Mr Rajan’s rumoured chances of replacing Laura Kuenssberg as BBC political editor, should she step down in the near future as expected, insiders told the Mail.
But the about-face does not seem to have harmed Mr Rajan’s rumoured chances of replacing Laura Kuenssberg as BBC political editor
It was pointed out by colleagues that Tim Davie is a big fan. A senior BBC insider doubted the impact of Davie’s revelations on his candidacy.
These same colleagues also questioned Mr Rajan (38), who is media editor and wants to be a journalist. He is interested in the presenting position like Andrew Marr’s, which he has left after 21 years.
Pictured is Mr Rajan (pictured), who was also host of Today and became the first Fleet Street editor without a white background at the age of 29.
The Mail on Sunday reported that in the months leading up to the election, The Independent was highly critical of the Tories’ record in the Coalition government.
An editorial on April 4 read: ‘The plain fact is that the Conservatives have misread the national mood again, and it is depressing their electoral appeal… the Tory leadership looks and sounds a little too public school, a touch too smug and a bit too sympathetic to business vested interests.’
Rumours circulated about Laura Kuensberg’s role as the Corporation’s Political Editor.
Other editorials criticised the Conservatives’ Right to Buy plans as well as labelling the decision not to raise taxes as ‘foolish’.
However, just two days before the election, The Independent performed a U-turn and praised Mr Cameron for ‘an exceptional achievement’ in creating more jobs and said his party ‘deserve tremendous credit’ for improving schools.
The Guardian reported at the time that Mr Cameron did indeed attend the party of Russian businessman Mr Lebedev, who turned 35 on May 8 – the day after polling day.
Republican Mr Rajan’s documentary The Princes and The Press prompted the Royal Family to threaten to boycott the BBC. Last night, the BBC stated that there were no open positions for political editors. Rumours that Rajan changed his editorial style to please Lebedev have been denied by Mr Rajan.