'I replied that I hadn't got my BBC guidelines in front of me but my hunch was on balance we are opposed to the Holocaust'
October 8, 2019 07:58
BBC presenter Nick Robinson has told how a former boss at the corporation once questioned his decision to speak at a Holocaust Educational Trust event, asking: "Are you sure that's wise?"
In a keynote speech delivered to the HET's annual fundraising dinner on Monday night, the journalist revealed he had attempted to follow strict BBC guidelines to gain permission to speak at a past event.
"I sent an email to my boss thinking this is not a speech that is going to cause much problem," he said of the incident which was "around a decade" ago.
"I said I was speaking at a HET dinner - but the reply came back in email saying 'are you sure that's wise?'
"I replied that I hadn't got my BBC guidelines in front of me but my hunch was on balance we are opposed to the Holocaust.
"My boss said 'Can you tell me who has spoken at this dinner before?'
"I'd never been before, I had no idea. But I searched Google for my reply and said 'bad news last year was the Prime Minister and the year before will cause you more concern - the chairman of the BBC'."
In his speech, Mr Robinson, whose grandfather wasa Jewish doctor in Nazi Germany. told guests at London's Guildhall - who included Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Israeli Ambassador Mark Regev and MPs Ian Austin, Dame Margaret Hodge and Luciana Berger - of his fears over the current political climate.
"Rage is in danger of replacing rationality," he said, describing how the angry parliamentary debate after the recent Supreme Court ruling against the prime minister left him "appalled."
He added: "These are the most angry scenes I've ever witnessed in the House of Commons. And I've witnessed a few.
"More angry even than when we were debating about sending men and women to deaths in war."
Mr Robinson said the media were increasingly attacked from all sides of the political spectrum - and that only last week he was confronted by a middle aged woman who accused him of being a 'Nazi collaborator'.
He revealed: "The woman I was with wept. I pointed out that this was a curious allegation to make to the grandson of German Jews.
"Something has gone very wrong. We thought we were different in this country, we thought we were better, we have been far too complacent."
Setting out how this was relevant to an event remembering the Holocaust, Mr Robinson said: "My fear is that what starts with a genuine grievance, moves into blaming someone for your plight.
"You are then fed a conspiracy theory. Next you become persuaded you are in a battle in which only one tribe can win - and we know how this movie ends and it isn't good.
"It ends with people thinking these people don't think he same as us... when people question; Who is behind the conspiracy? Who stands to profit? Who runs the media?
"Don't be surprised if the answer has been the answer it has been throughout history - the Jews.
"That is my fear. That is why what is happening in contemporary politics matters to people in this room."
Karen Pollock, HET’s chief executive, earlier told the assembled guests of own her fears about political extremism. She referenced Labour’s treatment of Jewish MP Dame Louise Ellman.
Mr Robinson also condemned the rise of left and far-right antisemitism.
He told the day suspended Labour MP Chris Williamson had appeared on the BBC Radio Four's Today programme to deny the existence of antisemitism in his party.
"I work for the BBC were we are paid not to tell people our views," said Mr Robinson. "Let me tell you this. I've seen it Chris. The people in this room have seen it Chris."
HET ambassador Mackenzie Large was also roundly applauded for her speech on why she had become committed to the charity.
Also delivering an emotional speech at the event was survivor Lily Ebert as 14 when the Nazis deported her from her Hungarian hometown to Auschwitz.
She said: “I am a Holocaust survivor. I want to tell you about my story because in a few years time I won’t be able to, it will become a history.”
