Emily Maitlis's subtle apology for breaking BBC impartiality rules has people in awe

Emily Maitlis has apologised for behaving in a way that may have broken BBC impartiality rules but the way she has done so has left people in awe.

The Newsnight presenter apologised and deleted her retweet of Rory Stewart’s response to an interview with culture secretary Nadine Dorries, in which she defended Boris Johnson’s over Partygate and the Sue Gray report but also circulated the tweet again.

Stewart had remarked on the "tawdry Trumpian shabbiness of the whole thing" and added: "It is difficult to see how much more of this the party or our political system can survive.

Maitlis apologised by quote tweeting the tweet, therefore recirculating it again which people saw as a subtle non-apology. She wrote: "I have deleted my earlier retweet of the below and would like to apologise for the hurt I have caused.”

Then she quote tweeted that tweet and added: “For the avoidance of doubt I accept I should have added extra context – it was retweeted in haste – and was wrong to do.”

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Subtle indeed.

Reacting to it, people thought she had got the last laugh.

It is not the first time Maitlis has been criticised for perhaps revealing her opinions about news stories. The BBC found her guilty of an impartiality breach last year over her Newsnight monologue that criticised the government for its handling of the Dominic Cummings’s Barnard Castle saga.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s impartiality rules state: “If a member of staff repeatedly likes or shares, without comment, content reflecting a particular point of view on a matter of public controversy it might create the impression that individual agrees with that view.”

The BBC told i news no further action had been taken over the latest incident.

Nice one.

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