London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2026

BBC blasted for another gaffe after confusing two black female MPs, while Evening Standard adds THIRD woman to race storm

BBC blasted for another gaffe after confusing two black female MPs, while Evening Standard adds THIRD woman to race storm

The BBC has found itself in the middle of a new race controversy after confusing Labour MP Marsha de Cordova with another black MP during political coverage. Incredibly, the Evening Standard then added a third woman to the story.

De Cordova, the MP for Battersea, was speaking during a House of Commons session on the Agricultural Bill on Monday. However, BBC Parliament mistakenly identified her with a strapline for Dawn Butler, who is Labour’s shadow minister for women and equalities and a candidate for deputy leader of the party.

The embarrassing blunder comes hot on the heels of the BBC being forced to apologise for a ‘human error’ which saw the broadcaster mixing up footage of Kobe Bryant with LeBron James, during a report on the helicopter crash which killed the US basketball legend.

However, somewhat bizarrely, it wasn’t just the BBC perpetrating gaffes relating to mistaken identity concerning Butler and de Cordova. The Evening Standard published the race storm story on the black Labour MPs with an image of Butler, but instead of using a picture of de Cordova they used a photo of Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the black Labour lawmaker for Streatham.

The paper, edited by former Tory Chancellor George Osborne, has since apologized for the error, claiming that Ribeiro-Addy’s image “had been wrongly captioned by one of our picture suppliers, Getty Images.”

Butler, responding on social media to the BBC’s gaffe, suggested the corporation’s problem on this issue was rooted in its failure to recruit enough black and ethnic minorities. She tweeted: “Diversity in the workplace matters it also helps to avoid making simple mistakes like this.”

De Cordova claimed on Twitter that she still hasn’t received an apology from the BBC, hours after the incident.

The latest race-related howler from the BBC has been met with a fiery response from many people online who appeared fed up with the broadcaster seemingly making a habit of committing such damaging errors.

Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, a political and women’s rights activist, accused the corporation of “projecting bias,” brutally claiming that “there’s no threshold of shame for @BBC.” One person sarcastically re-branded the BBC “The Black-Blind Corporation” in a tweet.


Others tweeted gifs to voice their frustration at the broadcaster for making yet another “mistake.”



In November, the BBC caused consternation after using dated footage of PM Boris Johnson laying a poppy wreath during the Remembrance Sunday ceremony. It prompted many on social media to claim that the BBC was peddling “fake news,” accusing the broadcaster of “bias” and “propaganda.”

The public broadcaster is entering some uncertain times in light of its director general Tony Hall announcing in January that he’ll be stepping down from his role in the summer. Questions have been raised about the sustainability of its publicly-funded model.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Intensifies Arctic Security Engagement as Trump’s Greenland Rhetoric Fuels Allied Concern
Meghan Markle Could Return to the UK for the First Time in Nearly Four Years If Security Is Secured
Meghan Markle Likely to Return to UK Only if Harry Secures Official Security Cover
UAE Restricts Funding for Emiratis to Study in UK Amid Fears Over Muslim Brotherhood Influence
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks to Safeguard Long-Term Agreement Stability
Starmer’s Push to Rally Support for Action Against Elon Musk’s X Faces Setback as Canada Shuns Ban
UK Free School Meals Expansion Faces Political and Budgetary Delays
EU Seeks ‘Farage Clause’ in Brexit Reset Talks With Britain
Germany Hit by Major Airport Strikes Disrupting European Travel
Prince Harry Seeks King Charles’ Support to Open Invictus Games on UK Return
Washington Holds Back as Britain and France Signal Willingness to Deploy Troops in Postwar Ukraine
Elon Musk Accuses UK Government of Suppressing Free Speech as X Faces Potential Ban Over AI-Generated Content
Russia Deploys Hypersonic Missile in Strike on Ukraine
OpenAI and SoftBank Commit One Billion Dollars to Energy and Data Centre Supplier
UK Prime Minister Starmer Reaffirms Support for Danish Sovereignty Over Greenland Amid U.S. Pressure
UK Support Bolsters U.S. Seizure of Russian-Flagged Tanker Marinera in Atlantic Strike on Sanctions Evasion
The Claim That Maduro’s Capture and Trial Violate International Law Is Either Legally Illiterate—or Deliberately Deceptive
UK Data Watchdog Probes Elon Musk’s X Over AI-Generated Grok Images Amid Surge in Non-Consensual Outputs
Prince Harry to Return to UK for Court Hearing Without Plans to Meet King Charles III
UK Confirms Support for US Seizure of Russian-Flagged Oil Tanker in North Atlantic
Béla Tarr, Visionary Hungarian Filmmaker, Dies at Seventy After Long Illness
UK and France Pledge Military Hubs Across Ukraine in Post-Ceasefire Security Plan
Prince Harry Poised to Regain UK Security Cover, Clearing Way for Family Visits
UK Junk Food Advertising Ban Faces Major Loophole Allowing Brand-Only Promotions
Maduro’s Arrest Without The Hague Tests International Law—and Trump’s Willingness to Break It
German Intelligence Secretly Intercepted Obama’s Air Force One Communications
The U.S. State Department’s account in Persian: “President Trump is a man of action. If you didn’t know it until now, now you do—do not play games with President Trump.”
Fake Mainstream Media Double Standard: Elon Musk Versus Mamdani
HSBC Leads 2026 Mortgage Rate Cuts as UK Lending Costs Ease
US Joint Chiefs Chairman Outlines How Operation Absolute Resolve Was Carried Out in Venezuela
Starmer Welcomes End of Maduro Era While Stressing International Law and UK Non-Involvement
Korean Beauty Turns Viral Skincare Into a Global Export Engine
UK Confirms Non-Involvement in U.S. Military Action Against Venezuela
UK Terror Watchdog Calls for Australian-Style Social Media Ban to Protect Teenagers
Iranian Protests Intensify as Another Revolutionary Guard Member Is Killed and Khamenei Blames the West
Delta Force Identified as Unit Behind U.S. Operation That Captured Venezuela’s President
Europe’s Luxury Sanctions Punish Russian Consumers While a Sanctions-Circumvention Industry Thrives
Berkshire’s Buffett-to-Abel Transition Tests Whether a One-Man Trust Model Can Survive as a System
Fraud in European Central Bank: Lagarde’s Hidden Pay Premium Exposes a Transparency Crisis at the European Central Bank
Trump Announces U.S. Large-Scale Strike on Venezuela, Declares President Maduro and Wife Captured
Tesla Loses EV Crown to China’s BYD After Annual Deliveries Decline in 2025
UK Manufacturing Growth Reaches 15-Month Peak as Output and Orders Improve in December
Beijing Threatened to Scrap UK–China Trade Talks After British Minister’s Taiwan Visit
Newly Released Files Reveal Tony Blair Pressured Officials Over Iraq Death Case Involving UK Soldiers
Top Stocks and Themes to Watch in 2026 as Markets Enter New Year with Fresh Momentum
No UK Curfew Ordered as Deepfake TikTok Falsely Attributes Decree to Prime Minister Starmer
Europe’s Largest Defence Groups Set to Return Nearly Five Billion Dollars to Shareholders in Twenty Twenty-Five
Abu Dhabi ‘Capital of Capital’: How Abu Dhabi Rose as a Sovereign Wealth Power
Diamonds Are Powering a New Quantum Revolution
Trump Threatens Strikes Against Iran if Nuclear Programme Is Restarted
×