Number 10’s director of communications, Craig Oliver, was hired in part for his broadcast expertise. However, he seems to have forgotten that you should be careful what you say in front of a microphone. A video of Oliver giving BBC politics reporter Norman Smith a five minute long tirade about the corporation’s coverage of Jeremy Hunt has gone viral after it was leaked to the Guido Fawkes website. The first version of the video was removed from YouTube, but not in time to prevent copies being made. It is not quite The Thick of It; Oliver – formerly a senior BBC executive himself – manages to keep his temper in check. But he accuses Smith of bias and attempting to link David Cameron to events in which he was not involved.
Here it is in full:
