He said Peston had campaigned for Britain to join the euro.
Advertisement
“There are some extremely articulate, persuasive people in the Vote Leave campaign, and it would seem to me appropriate that one of them should be invited to debate with the Prime Minister”, he said.
Mr Peston, who received the email after returning home from the funeral of his father, the economist Maurice Peston, said it was a “mad slur” and “bonkers”.
“They are allowing No 10 to choose their opposition”, the source said, adding that the campaign was to meet ITV representatives to discuss the matter on Thursday.
The remark was denounced as “unacceptable, if not shocking” by former ITV chairman Lord Grade, who said broadcasters should stand up against “bullying tactics” by campaigners.
ITV’s main programme on the European Union referendum will be broadcast on Tuesday June 7.
Advisers refused to let David Cameron go head-to-head with either Michael Gove or Boris Johnson despite broadcasters clamouring for his agreement to take part in live specials.
Mr Farage accused Vote Leave of “doing all they can to try to exclude me and Ukip from everything”.
“ITV has lied to us in private while secretly stitching up a deal with Cameron to stop Boris Johnson or Michael Gove debating the issues properly”.
The Mail revealed on Monday that Downing Street had been accused of trying to deliberately scupper the TV referendum debates by refusing to put up the Prime Minister. But Peston, the broadcaster’s political editor, hit back at the criticism.
I suspect even Vote Leave themselves would concede that the part of last night’s statement which threatened “consequences” for the broadcaster was ill-judged.
It’s worth saying here that if Vote Leave had simply complained about the lack of an official Leave campaign representative in the debate then they may have had a decent point.
An ITV spokeswoman said: “ITV has not lied to anyone, nor has there been any kind of “stitch up”.
A spokesman for Vote Leave later released a second statement, which dropped the suggestion that ITV would face “consequences” for its decisions but said the group was looking at “legal possibilities”.
ITV said late Wednesday that it would air two shows, one featuring Prime Minister David Cameron and U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage taking audience questions one after the other. We invited them both and they accepted.
A spokesman said: “The Government has set all the rules for the referendum to give itself every possible advantage”.
“We think our viewers will find both programmes useful in providing information ahead of polling day. Since the campaign began, ITV has also given twice as much airtime to the In campaign than to the Leave campaign”.
Advertisement
Readers may think Farage the ideal person to do a referendum debate, given his expertise and prominence on the topic, or they may not, given the potential deterrent effect on floating voters, but that should be the decision of the official Leave campaign who have been given the responsibility of making the case. In the meantime, they’re talking to ITV in the hope of a more reasonable solution while pressing the BBC to ensure that they, at least, do the right thing.
