BBC reporter suggests Queen “distressed” at thought of Scottish independence

Wednesday, 04 July 2012 22:37

A BBC news reporter has suggested that the Queen would be distressed if Scots were to vote for independence in 2014.

Nicholas Witchell, the BBC’s Royal correspondent made the claim in a news report on the Queen’s visit to Scotland.

Mr Witchell referred to the “break up” of the United Kingdom, and asked First Minister Alex Salmond if he believed the Queen would be distressed if Scotland opted for independence.

The First Minister explained that he didn't think that would be the case and that the Queen would continue to be "Queen of Scots."

Witchell questioned Mr Salmond's answer saying: “As to his claim that the Queen wouldn’t be the slightest bit bothered by the break-up of the United Kingdom, that claim would seem very much less certain.”

However the BBC reporter gave no evidence to back up his own comments and instead a news recording from 1977 was shown, with the Queen saying: “I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”

There has already been anger expressed at both Mr Witchell’s claims of 'distress' and his use of the term 'break-up' to describe Scottish independence.

Earlier this year BBC Chiefs acknowledged that the corporation had to be mindful not to use pejorative terms favoured by Unionists when reporting on the independence debate.

The decision to ban the use of terms such as ‘Divorce’, ‘separation’ and break-up’ followed a meeting between First Minister Alex Salmond and Chair of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten. The Scottish Government compiled a dossier containing what it claimed were examples of BBC presenters using biased language.

Here is the full news item:

Comments

# cokynutjoe 2012-07-04 23:06

The Royal Family have in the past been distressed by Nicholas Witchell and his toadying pronouncements.

# Ben Power 2012-07-04 23:14

I find it very difficult to believe the the Queen, an astute and successful monarch, would be drawn into anything that said she was distressed about Scots Independence.

The majority of Scots appear to want her as Queen of Scots. Political pundits ascribing interference in the will of the Scots by the Queen have another agenda that is not friendly to either the Queen or Scots.

# Henry 2012-07-05 16:10

I agree. IF any such opinion was expressed by ER then it must have been in private. The Queen is aware that as constitutional monarch she must not get involved in the political arena. The question then arises "Where did Mr Witchell get his information?" , as I am sure the Queen does not want to get dragged into a political fight on independence. This question needs to be answered to avoid embarrassment to the Queen and to identify members of the Royal household or staff who may have been complicit in any such opinion entering the public domain. In addition we can try to establish whether the BBC had no such information but is attempting to buttress their Unionist case by deliberate misreporting.
I am a committed republican however I do recognise the Queen's long record of public service. Having said that I do not accept the use of the monarch by Unionists to try to prop up their weak case for continued dependency. Ideally, I would want a denial from the palace that any such opinion was expressed by ER.

# alicmurray 2012-07-04 23:44

Great pity Witchell and other BBC toadies don't keep their opinions to themselves.

# WRH2 2012-07-05 00:03

While I would prefer Scotland to become a republic post Independence, I was nevertheless, impressed by the lack of silliness in the Queen's Jubilee celebrations this week in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Instead of a "pretendy" medieval pageant on the Thames and rock concert that a normal elderly person would rather give a miss and have an early night, we showed how such events can be celebrated with simplicity and dignity. I thought it highlighted just how apart Scotland and England really are.
As for Nicholas Witchell, I think I can now understand the Duke of Rothesay's dislike of him!

# bipod 2012-07-05 00:06

I don't really think the Queen actually cares or wants to get involved in this debate. ALthough I am very sure that somewhere down the line in this debate the unionists camp will try to politicize the monarch and make it look like the Queen is on there side.

# govanite 2012-07-05 00:35

Since she is Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, loads of other places too & adored in Republican America she probably couldn't care less what Witchell thinks.

Not sure she's ever even spoken to him.

# J Wil 2012-07-05 00:49

People like Witchell seem to practice the dark art of mind reading.

# Buddyh 2012-07-05 01:30

What is it with these people, how is it that they cannot get to grips with the Political Union and the Union of the Crowns are two completly different events and happened at different times in History, so to break the Political Union, does nothing to the Union of the Crowns, which would mean she has nothing to be distressed about.

O/T The Isle of Man, part of Britain with its own Government and rules, are they Manx? British? Independant? Still got the Queen as figurehead?
Then why can we not be Independant.

# colin8652 2012-07-05 06:13

Can someone not just take out an interdict against the BBC reporting on all matters independence by virtue of their breach of charter by failing to report in an a balanced and impartial way

# xyz 2012-07-05 20:08

You mean like a super injunction? lol .. nice idea .. but it wont fly . Remember there was general hostility for those using such a legal device. They were hiding something, but we would like to be able to reveal something: The disgraceful abandonment of impartiality by the BBC.

# Macart 2012-07-05 06:46

Well, we know what Nicholas Witchell thinks, but as for the Queen? I'd say that Mr Witchell could take a leaf out of the Queen's book and should keep his distance from constitutional politics, an area for which he seems particularly unsuited.

# Roll_On_2011 2012-07-05 06:55

It does not appear that her Majesty is to miffed here:

thescottishsun.co.uk/.../...

# gus1940 2012-07-05 07:21

Until last night I had considered that, compared with the bias at BBC Scotland, STV was reasonably even handed regarding the campaign for Independence.

However, I was shocked and disgusted with last night's edition of Scotland Tonight which led with a disgraceful one sided attack on Cybernats accusing them of spreading vile hatred and prejudice throughout the on-line community.

It was as if the Cyberbrits were a shining example of purity and truth with their contributions to the debate.

While I am prepared to accept that there are some individuals in the Cybernat community who on occasion step too far with their remarks one must consider the degree to which they are provoked by the 100% anti-Independence bias, distortion, misreporting and downright lying to which we are subjected daily by the broadcast and dead tree media.

For vile personal attacks and displays of naked racism and xenophobia one only has to have a look at the outpourings of Cyberbrit hatred pouring out daily in the Comments sections of The Scotsman, Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph and Guardian

# john__ 2012-07-05 09:26

you obviously watched a different program to me. The panel were even handed, torrance was made to look a fool with the examples of "cybernat bile", and the word cyberbrit was aired for the first time on television (to my knowledge).

I aprticularly liked th eclosing comments that leadership must come from the poiticians using temperate language. A point that was well made.

John

# gus1940 2012-07-05 10:16

So why was the whole theme of the item alleged unwholesome postings by cybernats?

Leadership should come from the politicians - Agreed but only if the Unionists and their lackeys in the broadcast and print media would tell the truth on occassion instead of the usual old slogans, ridiculous scare stories and dismal Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt rubbish

# Seagetagrip 2012-07-05 07:45

When they start throwing muck at us then we must have them worried!

# lumilumi 2012-07-05 08:07

My jaw dropped when I first saw this piece of "news reporting". NW was trying so hard to say that the Queen wouldn't like it if Scotland became independent without actually saying it.

I liked Alex Salmond's barb that the Queen is too wise to be drawn into (party) political fights, even if the BBC tries to make it so (or words to that effect).

NW then backed up his claims with a clip from 35 years ago! Newsflash to NW: the world has changed in 35 years.

The Queen is popular in Scotland, and she has done her "job" well, but I wonder how keen Scots will be on the monarchy when it's time for the Duke of Rothesay to become the King of Scots.

# thomsor 2012-07-05 08:26

I think we need to look behind Nicholas Witchell and not at him. He and the other BBC employees are only following the instructions of their BBC bosses. SNP politicians should be savey enough to know what's coming every time they do an interview with the BBC. The root of the problem is the BBC bias against the SNP and an indy Scotland, and until they are seriously taken to task on this matter nothing will change.

# Blanco 2012-07-05 08:37

Ach Nicholas, you are mistaking us for people who gie a feg what the queen thinks!

# Old Smokey 2012-07-05 08:42

Little wonder the Duke of Rothesey has got any time for Witchell
Witchell came accross as some kind of sycophantic no mark.
The piece was very much edited to get in as many 'United's' thay could and the not so subtle inclusion of the edited piec from 1977 was unbeleivable. It was unbeleivable because it was taken out of context from the whole of the speech that her Grace was giving!
Very disgraceful reporting, thank god, in independence, the BBC or what ever the English will call their share of the state broadcaster will be, can keep Witchell. If the Duke of Rothesey had his way (probably) in the Tower.

# Mac 2012-07-05 10:05

This was deliberate and we can take it as read that ER and the DoE both support the No Campaign. The question that follows is does Scotland need a monarch who is evidently hostile to the notion of Scottish self-determination?

# bagonails 2012-07-05 11:42

coming from a man that believes in the loch ness monster and has a holiday home in the area for hunting said monster says it all

# bringiton 2012-07-05 12:14

I will always remember Witchell for his failure to support his fellow journalists in a dispute many years ago.
Said it all about him as a person as far as I am concerned.

# brh206 2012-07-05 12:29

I am distressed that we still have an unelected head of state in this day and age. Says everything about the UK and sadly Scotland that there appears to be some arguing that we should be keeping this awful undemocratic system of privilege.

# Clackman57 2012-07-05 15:37

Don't you get it, we live in a democracy and have done for hundreds of years if the British public had wanted shot of the monarchy they could have done it they didn't so that means the majority support the Queen, don't think it's that hard to grasp.

# Henry 2012-07-05 14:05

The Queen is a constitutional monarch in the Westminster setup and is therefore not supposed to involve herself in the political arena. I don't believe for a second that the Queen suggested this directly to any journalist. It would then appear that the information must have come from a member of the Queen's household or staff. In either event, it puts the Queen in a bit of a pickle as it is her responsibility to ensure that any political view she may have expressed goes no further and does not enter the public domain. Mr Nicholas Witchell needs to be challenged on where this information came from in order to idnetify any individual involved in allowing the monarchy to be embarrassed in such a way.

# rob4i 2012-07-05 16:26

A BBC reporter Nicholas Witchell claiming a BBC blatant lie had came from the mouth of the Queen my god we MUST get Independence as soon as possible and rid ourselves of the BBC STV and ALL the Unionist media from Scotland and start from SCRATCH!!!

# xyz 2012-07-05 17:51

Earlier today there was a BBC report on the thousand jobs at risk at Halls.
There followed a report with Alex Salmond talking about hundred or so jobs created for young folk somewhere .. sorry I was only half watching ....

This is the usual thing where they let our first minster speak on the BBC but they wrap the report in something negative .. in this case the Halls jobs.

Had there been no proportionately worse jobs news today, the report containing Alex Salmond and some good news would not have been aired.

We all remember the report on the fantastic multi million investment from ?Samsung? where the BBC wrapped the report in some negative news about renewables.

What struck me about today's report was that instead of broadcasting the footage of Alex Salmond talking about the hundred or so jobs for young folk the BBC showed footage of the first minster standing around, while only his voice was broadcast from the interview.

Why?

Probably because they thought one image would provide a less positive image of the first minister.

Just one example among thousands I'm sure. .. I don't have the time or the inclination to watch the BBC. but every time I do I watch insidious propaganda.

# Radge 2012-07-05 19:07

It's very hard not to agree with the Duke of Rothesay: www.youtube.com/.../

# derick fae Yell 2012-07-05 20:26

"Ghastly little man" right enough!

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BBC reporter suggests Queen “distressed” at thought of Scottish independence

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