Newsnight Presenter Jeremy Paxman
According to a source within the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, a “senior political figure” could be outed as a pedophile on the BBC news show Newsnight tonight.
An investigation into this man, who is still a figure in politics, is currently being looked over by the BBC legal team. There has been no official comment from the BBC today.
The source is the editor of the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism, Iain Overton, who tweeted:
If all goes well we’ve got a Newsnight out tonight about a very senior political figure who is a paedophile.
— Iain Overton (@iainoverton) November 2, 2012
The bureau has not worked with the BBC on this project. On the other side the UK based Channel Four has also investigated the allegations against the man. Their reporter Michael Crick tweeted earlier:
“Senior political figure” due to be accused tonight by BBC of being paedophile denies allegations + tells me he’ll issue libel writ agst BBC
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) November 2, 2012
According to The Daily Mail, the London Metropolitan Police haven’t begun any investigation into the documentary. This will be the second pedophile scandal that the BBC is involved with in just two months after the revelations of the Jimmy Savile investigation in September. In that instance, Newsnight faced massive criticism internally and from the outside after they suppressed an investigation into the allegations against the late popular DJ.
In the UK government, Labor Member of Parliament Tom Watson announced at government sitting that there was “clear intelligence” that a former top aide was accused of sex offenses.
There is no evidence to suggest his allegations are linked to the Newsnight investigation.