The culture secretary, John Whittingdale, has been accused of misleading parliament over the government’s plans to privatise Channel 4.
The shadow culture secretary, Maria Eagle, made the accusation after it emerged that Whittingdale had met with Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock “to discuss Channel 4 reform options” six days before he told the culture media and sport select committee last September that there were “no plans” to sell off the broadcaster.
The 3 September meeting with Hancock was revealed under a freedom of information request the day after Whittingdale repeated that there were no active discussions about a sell-off to the same committee earlier this week.
“The secretary of state has misled the culture, media and sport committee,” Eagle told the Guardian. She described his behaviour as “totally unacceptable” and called for him to make correct the official record.
Just two weeks after Whittingdale’s first appearance before the committee, a government official inadvertently revealed the privatisation plans after being photographed entering Downing Street with a document setting out options for a sell-off.
MPs questioned Whittingdale on the sell-off plans on Tuesday, when he still said he hoped a decision would be made soon, preferably before the summer recess.
SNP MP John Nicholson pushed him on his earlier appearance: “Are you saying that your officials were not working on privatisation on 9 September when you appeared before this committee?”
Whittingdale replied: “I think I am, yes. I’m trying to think. Well, they weren’t under active discussion at the time that I appeared before the committee.
“We started looking at the future of Channel 4, the sustainability of Channel 4 and then as part of that the option of seeking an external investor was raised but I think strictly speaking, when I appeared before the committee, we had not begun those discussions.”
Eagle said: “The government seem determined to sell off Channel 4 for purely ideological reasons against the wishes of the public, who value the hugely popular programming it provides.
“We know the culture secretary is hostile to public service broadcasting, which he has demonstrated throughout the BBC charter review. He must now come clean about his agenda for Channel 4.”
Eagle is expected to raise the matter in the House of Commons during Department for Culture, Media and Sport questions on Thursday,
On Tuesday, Whittingdale said that several options were under discussion from partial privatisation to the status quo. “I am not ruling anything in or out at this stage,” he said, adding that “quite a number of people” had expressed an interest in the broadcaster after reading that its future was under consideration.
On Tuesday, Nicholson described the timing of events as “extraordinary”. “This must’ve been an incredible fortnight between the 9 and 24 [September], one minute you’re innocently explaining to committee that there’s no plans for privatisation and then there’s a whirlwind of privatisation activity in the next fortnight.”
Timetable
3 September 2015 John Whittingdale and Matthew Hancock meet.
9 September Whittingdale appears before the CMS committee where he says: “At the moment, there are no plans to sell Channel 4.”
24 September A leaked document shows Channel 4 reform options are being considered.
4 November David Cameron responds to a question at PMQs in the Commons and states that the government is considering Channel 4 privatisation.
7 June 2016 Whittingdale appears in front of the committee again and is probed on why he did not mention that discussions on C4 privatisation were under way when he appeared on 9 September. He denies that discussions were underway.
8 June A freedom of information request reveals that the 3 September meeting between Whittingdale and Hancock “was to discuss Channel 4 reform options”.
