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The BBC was accused tonight of allowing its call from the channel Comic Relief to become "an advertisement for Jeremy Corbyn."
Conservative MPs reacted furiously during the broadcast of Red Nose Day this year, chanting the bosses of the BBC for peddling "social nonsense" and making "absurd" statements about the extent of poverty in Great Britain.
During the six-hour broadcast on Friday night, celebrities portrayed a bleak picture of hunger, deprivation and homelessness in the United Kingdom, which MPs claimed was a political attack on the government of Canada. Theresa May.
![Lenny Henry said, "I'm talking about global poverty since the beginning of Comic Relief [in 1988, when it focused on famine in Africa] but if you told me at that time, I would be here today to ask you to search your pockets so that we can help feed the British children, I would not have believed you.](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/16/21/11085758-6817711-image-a-12_1552772910670.jpg)
Lenny Henry said, "I'm talking about global poverty since the beginning of Comic Relief [in 1988, when it focused on famine in Africa] but if you told me at that time, I would be here today to ask you to search your pockets so that we can help feed the British children, I would not have believed you. But Conservative MP Nigel Evans said, "It paints a picture that I simply do not see.
By virtue of its royal charter, the BBC has a strict obligation to remain politically neutral, but in a series of controversies that have shaken its appeal to charity:
– Comedian Lenny Henry has been heavily criticized for comparing hunger in the United Kingdom to the malnutrition endured by millions of people in the developing world in the late 1980s;
– Shocking superstar Ed Sheeran was accused of hypocrisy after making a heartfelt plea about the tragic plight of the homeless – after trying to install railings to prevent people sleeping on the street from to leave his London home at £ 8 million;
– Olivia Colman, Oscar-winning actress, urged viewers to support a refugee charity that has perpetrated attacks on the government and is led by the daughter of a key ally of Jeremy Corbyn;
– The contributions to the appeal have decreased: 8 million pounds sterling were raised less this year than at the previous event in 2017;
– The viewing figures have also declined, with 600,000 fewer people watching the show this year.
Ed Sheeran mentioned that homeless people were dying on the street, but that viewers described as hypocritical what allowed him to get permission to install balustrades "to discourage people from sleeping in the street. street "in front of his home of 8 million pounds sterling in London.
Just minutes after the release of BBC1 this year, Henry made an appeal to FareShare, a charity that collects food that would otherwise be thrown away and hand it over to food banks and women's shelters.
Sir Lenny, who recorded a film in Ethiopia for the first Red Nose Day in 1988, warned that "the real hunger" was affecting a considerable number of people in this country. "" I have been talking about poverty in the world since the beginning from Comic Relief, but if you told me at that time that I would be here today to ask you to search your pockets to help feed the children of the United Kingdom, one of the countries the richest in the world, I would not have believed you.
"But that's where we are and that's exactly what I'm doing."
Last night, Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative's former Secretary of Labor and Pensions, described his remarks as "complete waste" and "socialist nonsense." "This statement is frankly, just not true," he said. "It's an absurd exaggeration and it's clear that it should not be used in Comic Relief commercials."
FareShare claims that one in eight people are "hungry in the UK", which equates to more than 8.25 million people. However, according to the latest figures from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2.2 million Britons – about 3.4 percent – live "in a situation of severe food insecurity", which means that they "suffer from hunger".
Olivia Colman has called for the support of a charity that brings children from refugee camps with their families to Britain, using images like the one right in her appeal. But the larger campaign to bring refugee children to Britain struck a blow last year when it was found that almost two-thirds of those polled about their age were adults.
Conservative MP Nigel Evans said Sir Lenny's film "paints a horrible picture" of Britain, adding, "This is an advertisement for Jeremy Corbyn and his brand of politics that will alienate many people.
"It's a political party show and it's incredibly dangerous. I know they want to raise money, but distorting the picture to do it is not smart and risks driving the BBC and the charity into politics, a place they really do not want to go. "
Controversial investigators compile BBC statistics on homeless people
Comic Relief used homeless death research gathered by a team of investigative reporters that had been shaken before by controversy.
In 2012, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism collaborated with the BBC's Newsnight with a story about Lord McAlpine, the Conservative Party's former treasurer, a pedophile mistakenly identified.
Iain Overton, the publisher at the time, resigned for this blunder.
The office is investigating the number of people dying on the streets of Britain because no official body records these numbers.
Sheeran cited his research that 332 people who slept in the street had been killed on the streets in the last 12 months. Comic Relief used Instagram to thank the office for providing it.
But Sir Lenny's comments were well received by those on the left – with the only criticism that he did not go far enough. One Twitter user who describes herself as a "pbadionate left-winger" said she wanted to "mention the reason why the cruel policy of the Tories".
Another supporter of Corbyn wrote, "Lenny Henry, you have done a remarkable job. Help us more by lobbying the @constituents to end the poverty, hunger and homelessness of children. You could help campaign for a @UKLabour government? '
Later in the evening, Ed Sheeran featured a powerful film about homeless people dying on the streets of Britain, reading the names of nine of the 332 homeless people reported missing in the past 12 months.
"The money you give tonight can literally save a life," he said. "Let us find a house and not find them dead on the sidewalk outside Poundland, outside of Debenhams, on a parking lot, under our feet and we'll be able to shorten this terrible list. ;next year." But the 28-year-old suffered TV viewers reacted brutally to social media, telling him how he had obtained planning permission last year to install fences and balustrades in his four-story London home so to dissuade the homeless from sleeping. In the application, the singer's representative, Paul Smith, of Apex Planning Consultants, said that "the pedestal and the stone balustrades would deter people sleeping on the street."
A viewer wrote on Twitter: "Ed Sheeran preaching about homelessness? Seriously? Did he have no bumpy objects in front of his house so the homeless could not sleep there? & # 39;
Another criticized Mr. Sheeran for failing to interview homeless people in his appeal. Last night, a spokesman for Mr. Sheeran declined to comment, but sources said homelessness was a big issue for him.
New government figures reveal that the number of people sleeping on the street in England has dropped from 74 to 4,677 in the last 12 months of last fall, although the number has increased by 2,909 since the beginning of the decade. The government is committed to paying 100 million pounds over two years to combat restless sleep.
Towards the end of the first half of the show, Olivia Colman, who won the Academy Award for Best Actress last month, made a moving appeal to donations from a charity called Safe Pbadage. , which provides legal advice and helps refugee children trying to enter the UK. .
His film uses images of Jewish children fleeing Germany before the start of the Second World War as part of the so-called "Kindertransport".
The Mail on Sunday may reveal that Safe Pbadage's executive director, Bethany Gardiner-Smith, is the daughter of Barry Gardiner, Labor's International Development Secretary.
Ms. Gardiner-Smith, 31, also worked as a political advisor to senior Labor MPs Yvette Cooper and Gloria Del Piero.
Safe Pbadage, which claims to have helped more than 1,800 refugee children in the UK, has sharply criticized the conservative immigration policy.
Comic Relief was founded in 1985 by Mr. Henry and screenwriter Richard Curtis in response to the devastating famine in Ethiopia. While continuing to raise millions for sub-Saharan Africa, it has also focused more on projects in the UK, with half of the money now being spent in that country.
Appeal: Lenny Henry recorded a film in Ethiopia on the occasion of the first Red Nose Day of 1988 (shown)
Despite apparent criticism of government policy at this year's issue, the Department of International Development donated £ 2 million to Comic Relief this year.
The BBC announced last night that the call this year had already yielded £ 63 million, up from £ 71.3 million at the end of the previous event in 2017. The final total for this year was 82 £ 2 million, which represented a significant drop in the record. £ 108 million raised in 2011.
This year's appeal had already sparked controversy after Labor MP David Lammy criticized Stacey Dooley as a "white savior" for publishing a social media photo of herself while rocking a young Ugandan child while filming a film about the work of Comic Relief.
He claimed that charity perpetuated unnecessary stereotypes about Africa. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, went on Friday night on Twitter to attack Mr. Lammy, pointing out that he was quietly silent during the telethon.
Yesterday evening, the BBC had said: "During the evening, several films were broadcast, illustrating the depth and breadth of the many projects and projects supported by Comic Relief in the UK and abroad. Thanks to the generosity of the public, a work as vital as the one presented last night can continue to improve the lives of many people. "
Charity led by Labor MP's daughter
The daughter of a key ally, Jeremy Corbyn, runs a charity for refugees supported by the BBC's Comic Relief.
Bethany Gardiner-Smith, who was educated at Oxford, is the CEO of Safe Pbadage, which helps reunite refugee camp children with their families in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
But the Mail on Sunday may reveal that his father, 31, is Barry Gardiner, fictitious Secretary of State for International Trade and a loyal cheerleader of Mr. Corbyn.
In the photo, Oxford-educated Bethany Gardiner-Smith is CEO of Safe Pbadage, which helps reunite refugee camp children with their families in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
Ms. Gardiner-Smith campaigned for the Labor Party in 2015 and worked as an advisor to Gloria De Piero MP and former Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
On the eve of the 2015 general election, she posted a poster on the Labor Party's Facebook page: "Sick of this Conservative government? U.S. too. "
Last night, critics accused the BBC of being misplaced in the political territory by supporting this charity and warned that the public would stop donating if Comic Relief became politicized.
Supporter: MPs Barry Gardiner and Jeremy Corbyn ahead of the 2017 parliamentary elections
Conservative MP Nigel Evans said: "It could actually damage the entire product, which has been a huge success over the decades.
"They have to remember that a lot of people support Comic Relief and if it is even suspected that this body would become politicized, people would stop giving.
"But the people who will pay the price will not be the BBC or the superstars, it will be the people who will need the help the most."
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