Martine Croxall: BBC Takes Presenter Off Air For Potential Breach of Impartiality Over Johnson

The BBC News presenter Martine Croxall has been taken off air after a potential breach of impartiality during Sunday night’s edition of The Papers, it is understood.

During her introduction to the programme, which started at 10.30pm on Sunday, about 90 minutes after Boris Johnson pulled out of the Tory leadership race, Croxall said: “Well this is all very exciting, isn’t it?” adding: “Am I allowed to be this gleeful? Well I am.”

In her first question to her guests, she remarked: “Can we even show you the front pages just yet, have they arrived? No, they haven’t arrived. It’s all a little bit, you know, Lastminute.com, isn’t it? Because all the front pages were probably out of date by the time we received them.”

Some viewers, including several Tory MPs reacting to a clip on social media, complained that it displayed bias.

A statement from the broadcaster said: “BBC News is urgently reviewing last night’s edition of The Papers on the News Channel for a potential breach of impartiality. It is imperative that we maintain the highest editorial standards. We have processes in place to uphold our standards, and these processes have been activated.”