15/11/2012

BBC To Reach Settlement With Lord McAlpine

Tory peer Lord McAlpine has spoken of his anger after a BBC Newsnight report led to him being wrongly implicated in child abuse allegations.

The former Conservative party treasurer told BBC Radio 4's The World at One he should have been contacted beforehand.

Although Newsnight did not name Lord McAlpine, the report led to a flood of accusations about him online.

Lord McAlpine said he had been "in a state of shock" after hearing of the allegations.

"I was in southern Italy. I don't have television, I don't get newspapers, we don't have the internet. To suddenly find I was mixed up in all this, and I didn't know what Newsnight was going to say, it really was a horrendous shock.

"Of course they [the BBC] should have called me and I would have told them exactly what they learnt later on."

Media watchdog Ofcom has confirmed it is investigating both Newsnight and ITV's This Morning programme over the allegations.

The BBC, which has apologised "unreservedly" for the report, said it hoped to reach a "settlement" of the matter on Thursday.

(H/GK)

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