Steve Bannon: BBC condemned for interviewing far-right Trump ally on flagship radio show

‘Why should I pay my license fee for this normalising of extremism?’

The BBC has been criticised for giving the far-right US political strategist Steve Bannon airtime to share his views.

Donald Trump’s former adviser – who has been trying to build a network of right-wing nationalists across Europe since leaving the White House in 2017 – was interviewed by the broadcaster’s North American editor Jon Sopel for Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday.

Listeners and media commentators condemned the decision to give Mr Bannon a platform, claiming it would help legitimise his extreme agenda.

“WHY? Why would you give him airtime?” said Professor Emily Bell of the Columbia Journalism School. “This interview is embarrassing and irrelevant. Steve Bannon has zero to say of importance on anything and here is a credulous interview on BBC Radio 4.”

Labour MP David Lammy tweeted: “Why is Steve Bannon an avowed white supremacist, anti semite racist given almost 15 minutes uninterrupted airtime on @BBCr4today?”

The Tottenham MP added: “Why was he not challenged on his links to Boris Johnson? Why should I pay my license fee for this normalising of extremism?”

Stuart Millar, BuzzFeed UK’s editor said the Today programme had allowed Mr Bannon “to deliver a constant stream of misinformation and falsehood almost completely unchallenged.

He added: “This isn’t an interview it’s a rant and Jon Sopel is nowhere.”

The former White House chief political strategist was speaking at the US-Mexico border and discussed his support for his former boss’s immigration policies.

Asked about UK politics, he said he expected the “savvy” new prime minister to deliver a no-deal Brexit and claimed it was “vitally important that populist leaders in the UK like Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage are successful”.

Mr Bannon was heard discussing his ties with Mr Johnson in video footage released last month. He said he talked to the then foreign secretary about his 2016 Brexit-related resignation speech.

Mr Johnson dismissed claims of links to the controversial figure as “codswallop”.

Earlier this year, The Independent revealed links between Mr Bannon’s fledging training academy for budding populist leaders and Tory politicians and advisers in the UK.