David Cameron’s spin doctor Craig Oliver is filmed chastising BBC political correspondent
Prime Minister David Cameron's head of communications, Craig Oliver, has been caught on camera chastising a leading BBC political correspondent about a report on Cameron’s relations with media mogul Rupert Murdoch – unaware that the episode was being filmed.
A five minute video, posted on the website Guido Fawkes, shows Oliver, a former BBC editor, berating BBC News chief political correspondent Norman Smith outside Number 10.
Oliver’s key objection is to an item run by the BBC’s Six O’Clock News last week on David Cameron and culture secretary Jeremy Hunt’s relationship with News International.
Unaware that the camera is rolling, Oliver says that he has made a complaint over the item and has been told to expect a more balanced piece to run later that evening.
The piece in question featured a spider’s web linking the faces of Cameron and Hunt to that of James and Rupert Murdoch, amongst others.
Oliver, took over as head of communications for Cameron 14 months ago after former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, resigned amid the phone hacking scandal.
Previously, Oliver was controller of English news output for BBC Global News - responsible for commissioning the news content for the corporation's English language Global services, including the BBC World Service, BBC World News and BBC News Online.