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House of Lords Speaker accuses BBC of 'sexing up' documentary

The BBC has been accused by the House of Lords Speaker of “sexing up” a landmark series about the work of peers, as he insisted that “very few of us live in stately homes”.

Lord Fowler accused the corporation of a failure of journalism after it reported that a peer kept a taxi waiting outside Parliament so he could dash inside to qualify for a £300 daily allowance.

The peer said the BBC had failed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident and "tried to sex up the programme to pretend that it is some kind of exposé which it is not". 

Meet the Lords, a three-part BBC Two series, follows a number of peers over the course of a year, marking the first time programme-makers have been given free-rein to film inside the Lords chamber and behind the scenes at committee meetings.

In an extract of the programme which airs tonight, Baroness D’Souza, who stepped down as Lord Speaker last year, told a BBC documentary that many peers “contribute absolutely nothing” and attend only to take advantage of the daily attendance allowance.

Writing in a post on Parliament's website, Lord Fowler said he could see the BBC’s publicity department "rubbing their hands in glee". 

The peer said it was "utterly predictable" that much of the BBC film "should dwell on the red robes, an extravagant country mansion and comments about 'the best club in London'. "

He argued that while it might be "good entertainment", the programme does not paint a fair picture of the second chamber. 

Lord Fowler said: "It ignores the fact that very few of us live in stately homes. And it ignores the everyday fact that most peers (including myself) arrive at Westminster not by chauffeur driven car but by London Underground."

The peer said his criticism is of the "publicity machine of the BBC in their selectively revealed extracts last week, days before the programme had been shown." 

On the story that the peer kept a taxi waiting outside the House of Lords, the peers said: "When did this happen? Do we know that he went into the chamber? Did he claim £300? Who was this peer and was he asked to explain?

"The point is we do not know the answer to any of these questions. What kind of investigative journalism leaves questions of that kind unanswered and apparently unasked?"