Ann Widdecombe has issued a fresh attack on the BBC, as the backlash surrounding the broadcaster rumbles on.
The BBC has faced widespread criticism after the company refused to name Hamas as a terrorist organisation, in their coverage of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The conflict, started by the terrorist group on October 7 in an unprovoked strike, has since killed thousands of civilian lives and left both Israel and and Gaza strip in ruin.
The BBC has been defiant in defending their decision, a spokesperson stating that it has kept a "long-standing position for its reporters not to use the term themselves unless attributing it to someone else".
Ann Widdecombe said the BBC has become 'gradually more and more left wing'
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BBC Director General Tim Davie has also faced a meeting with the 1922 committee, where Conservative MPs grilled the head on their handling of the Israel-Hamas war coverage.
Following the meeting, MP Jonathan Gullis said several attendees left the meeting feeling "flabbergasted".
Gullis added: "What shocked me more than anything was the Director General argued back with colleagues, and said that he would not agree with describing Hamas as terrorists because he was worried about how it might hurt the feelings of some people."
Speaking on Mark Dolan Tonight, former Conservative Minister Ann Widdecombe said the move by the BBC was "nothing new".
Widdecombe said: "Over the years the BBC has become gradually more and more left wing. If you look at its reporting during COVID, now there was the government line very clearly printed, saying not all these deaths were due to COVID, it was simply people who had tested positive within 28 days or whatever the period was.
"And the BBC used to say in terms these people had died of COVID. Now that is straightforward misreporting and it's the beeb. And they do that all the time in numerous ways."
Widdecombe fumed: "But to have actually refused to call Hamas a terrorist organisation, treating it as if it's a country and it really mustn't take sides against terrorism, that I think will have convinced a lot of people that the BBC has just thoroughly lost its way.
"All the pressure is for a ceasefire. Israel cannot have a ceasefire. Israel is fighting a war which it's got to win. And letting Hamas simply regroup and regather by giving a ceasefire is a piece of lunacy. They've got to win this war."
The BBC has received widespread backlash for not calling Hamas terrorists
PA
Mark then highlighted to Widdecombe that the BBC "wrongly pointed the finger at Israel" for the bombing of a Gaza hospital, claiming that the "damage was done" and it appeared as a "propaganda coup for Hamas".
Widdecombe agreed, saying: "Yes, they just went in where angels feared to tread and said this is the answer and this is what happened. And then, of course, when there's a cooler analysis and a proper examination of the evidence, it transpires that's not what happened at all.
"Well, why couldn't they wait? Is it just the pressure of having to be melodramatic and get melodramatic news out immediately?
"Or is it simply that they've lost altogether the perspective of proper, impartial, careful, analytical reporting if they know the meaning of any of those words?"
