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The BBC had a good Platinum Jubilee – but GB News had David Starkey

It’s a measure of how far the BBC’s reputation has fallen that as soon as the Jubilee celebrations concluded, the Corporation was having its homework marked; how did it do? Was it better than the disaster of 2012? Were there any horrendous gaffes? 

The critics were watching, eagle-eyed, to see if they could spot any lapses which might be interpreted as lese-majeste; anything which suggested that republican sympathies were colouring its output. But, in the event we critics were disappointed. In all fairness, we have to admit it did OK.

Once upon a time these questions would never have been asked because we would have taken it for granted that the BBC would strike just the right tone for a major national celebration. We assumed that the BBC knew, instinctively, how to handle this kind of thing and would effortlessly summon up the right mix of respectful informality informed by detailed background knowledge to provide appropriate commentary; after all the BBC’s historic mission has been to “inform, educate and entertain” and when better to do so than in covering Royal events?

But things didn’t start off terribly well. Thursday’s Trooping the Colour presented a stiff challenge for broadcasters; it is, after all, largely about drill-square manoeuvres where skilful interpretation of what’s happening “on-field” is vital if the full, symbolic significance is to be understood by a non-military audience. But the BBC coverage started, studio-bound, with Kirsty Young and two, well-worn celebrities: Penelope Keith and Michael Palin. 

No disrespect to either – they are much-loved and have legions of faithful fans – but they were desperately unequal to the task set before them. Did either know anything about drill manoeuvres? Of course not. Did either have any relevant recollections to offer us? Sadly not. So what were they there for? Mere celebrity padding, I thought; and I began to wonder if the BBC had learnt nothing from its woeful, much-criticised, coverage of the diamond jubilee in 2012. But, as it turned out, that faltering start was the exception; after that the coverage slotted into a comfortable groove.

Kirsty Young handed over to Huw Edwards who then conducted us through the ceremony with the help of a former Irish Guards officer who provided the kind of expert assessment that only comes with insider knowledge. Edwards is not a broadcaster to set the pulse racing; his tone is measured, sometimes verging on funereal. But no one could say he lacked gravitas or that he was ever flippant or disrespectful. 

And as things progressed the BBC showed that it had, indeed, learnt lessons from 2012. Back then, one of its distinguished journalists, Michael Buerk wrote of the coverage of the centrepiece event, the Thames Pageant: “The Dunkirk Little Ships, the most evocative reminders of this country’s bravest hour, were ignored so that a pneumatic bird-brain from Strictly Come Dancing could talk to transvestites in Battersea Park. I was so ashamed of the BBC I would have wept if I hadn’t been so angry.” 

This time round Mr Buerk will have little cause for complaint. David Dimbleby provided commentary on the Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral proving once again that he is the consummate professional. And then on Saturday Kirsty Young redeemed herself by being sure-footed and charming when doing the warm-up to the Party at the Palace. Repeated audience surveys have shown that educated Scottish or Irish accents are the ones that find most favour; Kirsty Young proves the point. She has a voice that combines warmth with perfect diction; the broadcasting fairies must have blessed her in her cradle.

If this is beginning to sound like an emanation from the BBC press office it is only because praise is surely due when things go right. But one of the BBC’s competitors showed how its coverage might have been even better. GB News provided a contrast in style that made much of the Corporation’s jubilee commentary seem pallid and mealy-mouthed. 

GBN, now approaching its first anniversary and showing signs of finding its feet, had the brilliant idea of hiring the historian David Starkey as its expert pundit to provide pertinent – and pungent – commentary. Starkey, of course, is one of those public figures who has been comprehensively “cancelled” because of one unfortunate comment made in a YouTube broadcast. Since when the Corporation has banished him to outer darkness.

Prior to that he’d been a BBC regular because, as well as having a gift for verbal zingers – which make his points in vivid, memorable language – he is also a historian of stature. What is more he is an unashamed admirer of the monarchy, Britain itself, and British history. It was refreshing to hear him making remarks that gladden the heart of any patriot – and doing so on a TV channel where such opinions are not greeted with a sharp intake of breath but as completely natural. 

So Starkey could say of the British Empire that, uniquely among empires, it peacefully “willed its own end” and in doing so bequeathed to the world a family of nations, the “Anglosphere” which today are decent, tolerant, stable and good places to live. 

And Starkey was critical of much of the commentary which saw these jubilee celebrations as, in some way, marking the end of an era with inevitable decline ahead. He called the tenor of the thanksgiving service “too recessional” and criticised the “strangulated” voice of the Church of England, lacking in conviction and optimism. 

The thing about Starkey is that he is an unblushing patriot as well as being a learned historian and a significant public intellectual. His is the kind of voice that one never hears on the BBC these days; as far as the Corporation is concerned his banishment is final and irrevocable because offending against political correctness is the sin which can never be forgiven. Which deprives the BBC audience of the sort of insights and uplift entirely appropriate for the national celebration we have just enjoyed.

Nicholas Witchell BBC Royal Confirming Correspondent
“It has confirmed the huge regard in which she is felt…regarded”
“… But we hardly need that confirming” ?? #bbcnews pic.twitter.com/opHAJUa4RR

— Pete Edwards ??????? ? ?‍? (@MrPeteEdwards) June 5, 2022

Overall the BBC’s Jubilee coverage was a stolid, dutiful, safety-first, exercise; there were no disasters, no “pneumatic airheads” making a mockery of monarchy and tradition. But it was not very optimistic in tone – too often the pundits the BBC employs both on TV and radio are most keen on emphasising the downsides; Tina Brown, the New York-based journalist, for instance, who is over here promoting her new (predictably unflattering) portrait of the monarchy has appeared with monotonous regularity. Of course Brown, unlike Starkey, will never be cancelled; she is very much in tune with BBC attitudes and always keen to emphasise the supposed long-term threat to the monarchy.

As the celebrations were winding down Sunday’s News At Ten turned to Royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell for a summing up. Witchell (about whom Prince Charles once famously muttered “I can’t bear that man. He’s so awful, he really is”) picked up on the same themes as Tina Brown. Yes, the jubilee celebrations had gone well and showed love and respect for the Queen. But, said Witchell (there’s always a “but”), that very success poses a problem for the monarchy as she would be such a hard act to follow. 

And that, in a nutshell, encapsulates the BBC’s problematic relationship with Royalty. It can never allow itself merely to enjoy the moment; unlike the millions who unselfconsciously and wholeheartedly celebrated the Queen’s achievement, the BBC feels impelled to go for the downbeat assessment. It uses royal occasions as a platform for doom-laden speculation which always boils down to the same thing: “trouble ahead” for the monarchy.

One cannot imagine Witchell or Brown, – or anyone else on the BBC – saying, as Starkey did on GB News “this should be a time for thanking God that we’re British”. And Amen to that say I.