Ben Elton today admitted he “got angry” after his furious attack on Rishi Sunak sparked a BBC bias row.
The comedian branded the Prime Minister a “mendacious narcissistic sociopath” during an “extraordinary” rant on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
His uninterrupted one-minute and 40-second tirade in response to an interview with Mr Sunak prompted accusations of BBC bias.
Speaking this morning, Elton said he “did not set out to have a go” but the PM’s interview “made me angry”.
He told LBC: “Look, I didn’t set out to mug the PM. I was really sad. I went on to plug my rail documentary. We scarcely had a chance to mention it because of the Russia thing.
READ MORE: BBC blasted after comedian Ben Elton launches furious rant against Rishi Sunak
“And they had this huge interview with the PM and we sat through it. It was 20 minutes. And I really really wanted to hear some proper commitments and proper principle and some actual new ideas.
“What I heard was a word salad of evasion and quarter truths and mendacity and I got angry because I’m British. I live here.
“I didn’t set out to say it. If they hadn’t played the interview, I wouldn’t have said anything about him. Laura Kuennsberg turned to me. She said, ‘what do you think of that interview?’
“And I thought what most people were thinking, which is well he literally didn’t say anything except for the fact that I’m brilliant.
“I will sort everything out and I have zero responsibility for the previous 13 years of Tory government. I was born six months ago when I became PM. And I’m sorry, it made me angry. I did not set out to have a go.”
Elton added that it was “personal from me”, saying: “Look, he’s the Prime Minister. I mean, I’ve had some slagging off in my time. And if that’s the worst he gets, he should read some of my reviews.
“That is honestly… I was giving a personal reaction as a Londoner and as a Briton, who just made a documentary about our rail service.
“He was talking about our health service. You’ve just had a doctor on the line, etc. And the idea that there’s no alternative than what they’re offering.
“I’m sorry, it was a personal reaction. The BBC didn’t know I was going to say it, but then I didn’t know they were going to play that word salad and then ask me to comment on it. It just happened. That’s live telly.”
In the interview, Mr Sunak urged Britons to hold their nerve on interest rate rises and defended his record while Boris Johnson’s chancellor.
The comedian branded the PM’s responses an “extraordinary Orwellian, meaningless, evasive word salad”.
Elton added: “I sort of believed maybe he’s kind of a bit more decent, and it turns out, he’s as much of a mendacious, narcissistic sociopath as his previous boss.
“He seemed to be making a principle of the fact that he resigned from a government that he’d served loyally and tried to keep propped up for numerous years.
“He’s trying to boast about having worried about inflation while he was chancellor under Johnson.”
But Tory MP Peter Bone said he “didn’t understand why Laura Kuenssberg didn’t interrupt”.
He added: “To say it was extreme and unjustified and rude is mild. But where was the balance from the BBC?
“Where was somebody jumping in and putting the other side of the coin? It was extraordinary.”
Mr Bone said: “Giving these people a platform when they just have extreme political views but don’t run a campaign, aren’t representative of a party and haven’t been elected to anything seems to me making a mockery of what’s supposed to be perhaps the BBC’s premier politics programme.”
A Tory source said: “It’s no surprise people are switching off the BBC. The Beeb should reread its own impartiality guidelines and stop stitching up its political panels.”
The BBC said: “We feature a wide range of guests and opinions across the series and ensure we meet our due impartiality commitments.”
