Carol Vorderman has criticised what she deemed to be “controversial decisions by BBC management” following the Huw Edwards scandal. The outspoken former Countdown star, who claimed she was “sacked” with “no conversation to be had” by the broadcaster in November last year, received a standing ovation after delivering the Alternative MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh TV festival on Friday (23 August). Vorderman, 63, said she was standing “in anger and without apology” as she said “trust in the BBC is declining” because of the way “people feel after so many controversial decisions by BBC management”.
She referenced former news presenter Edwards, who pleaded guilty to making child sex abuse images following his resignation from the BBC in April. The corporation admitted it was aware police had arrested him five months before his resignation, during his suspension over an unrelated matter. Vorderman further cited Match of the Day host Gary Lineker’s tweets about the previous government’s immigration policy, which led to him being briefly removed from the programme.
She also referenced the departure of BBC chairman Richard Sharp over questions surrounding his role in then-prime minister Boris Johnson receiving an £800,000 loan guarantee. Sharp, a Conservative Party donor and former Goldman Sachs banker, insisted at the time that his breach of the BBC’s strict rules on public appointments had been “inadvertent and not material”, as an inquiry fou.