BBC’s Editorial Complaints Unit concludes interview with Lord Lawson and Professor Sir Brian Hoskins on climate change and floods broke guidelines on due accuracy Hugh Muir reports on the leaked decision by the BBC to uphold a complaint about an interview on climate change with Lord Lawson on the Today programme on 13 February.

Justin Webb interviewed both Lawson and Prof Sir Brian Hoskins, chair of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College London, about the link between climate change and the winter floods this winter. Lawson wrongly claimed that it was not possible for scientists to connect the flooding to climate change, and then went on to falsely suggest that there was no evidence for an increase in any extreme weather events. The BBC Editorial Complaints Unit has now concluded that the interview broke guidelines about the need to ensure due accuracy in its news programmes. Although it has not yet formally announced the decision, I was told by e-mail on 4 June that it was planning to announce the verdict soon. In a letter dated 13 May which outlined its provisional decision, Fraser Steel, the Head of Editorial Complaints, stated:

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