Huw Edwards is ‘angry’ and unimpressed by the BBC’s coverage of claims he paid a teenager for lewd pictures and was improper with colleagues, Jon Sopel said today, insisting there is no evidence the star has broken the law or abused his position.
Mr Sopel, a former colleague and friend of more than three decades, has pointed the finger at the corporation and accused its reporters of enthusiastically digging into the ‘messy’ private life of the married father-of-five.
Mr Sopel said today he has not spoken with Mr Edwards since he was admitted to hospital. But he said he had contact with him after the scandal broke in The Sun on Thursday night. He has accused the BBC of taking the lead in a ‘feeding frenzy’ that followed.
He said: ‘We have had contact, not since he has hospitalised. He was very angry and felt very let down by The Sun, furious with their coverage and not overly impressed with the BBC’s coverage either’.
Mr Sopel, who left the BBC last year, claims there are people at ‘BBC news that need to have a long hard look in the mirror over the coverage and over the alacrity with which they have gone into someone’s private life’, adding: ‘What has it got to do with anybody?
‘The Sun said it was not going to reveal anything more and then you hear on BBC News: “We’ve got fresh allegations that he approached people in a flirtatious or inappropriate way” and you think woah, the guy’s in hospital’, he said.
Mr Edwards is receiving mental health treatment and faces an internal investigation as BBC News, Radio 4 and Newsnight reporters uncovered more claims about his behaviour, alleging ‘inappropriate behaviour towards BBC employees past and present’.
One colleague told the national broadcaster last night that he was sending flirtatious messages that made them ‘shudder’ and constituted an ‘abuse of power’.
Mr Sopel said: ‘It is not clear what the issue is other than that his private life is a bit messy.
‘Anyone who knows him is just wishing him well. Huw, I have known for over three decades when we were young political correspondents.
‘He is incredibly funny. As an acid wit. He is a complicated person to deal with, if you enter his orbit he is very defensive of his own territory, so I wouldn’t say we’re close friends but I’d say some of the coverage about his private life… that some might find a little distasteful, I don’t see what it has to do with anybody else.
‘There is no question of illegality, as things stand now, and no abuse of power as far as I can see, so what has it got to do with anybody?’
The BBC is in crisis today with Huw Edwards in hospital and its handling of the scandal branded a ‘total mess’ as its own journalists spearheaded coverage of new allegations the star was improper with multiple colleagues.
The presenter faces an internal investigation as BBC News, Radio 4 and Newsnight reporters uncovered more claims about his behaviour, alleging ‘inappropriate behaviour towards BBC employees past and present’.
One colleague told the national broadcaster last night that he was sending flirtatious messages that made them ‘shudder’ and constituted an ‘abuse of power’.
The corporation faces serious questions about how much it knew about claims that the broadcaster, 61, was sending flirtatious messages to junior staff and young people outside the organisation. They have also been accused of being ‘too slow’ to react having taken seven weeks to confront him with claims he paid £35,000 to a teenage drug addict for sexually explicit photographs.
The Director General Tim Davie says he was not told until last week – and has not spoken to Mr Edwards, one of his highest paid stars.
There is also open warfare at the BBC after Jeremy Vine urged him to reveal himself to save others being wrongly accused on social media and limit the damage to the BBC. Former BBC stalwart Jon Sopel then urged him to ‘shut the f*** up’ as other stars including Richard Bacon piled in.
Today Mr Edwards is in hospital receiving treatment for a ‘serious episode’ of depression after his wife last night named him as the BBC presenter at the centre of the scandal. Scotland Yard and South Wales Police has announced it had dropped its probe into the allegations, saying there was no evidence of any crime.
Vicky Flind said her husband, who was last on screen on July 5 during the King’s visit to Scotland, was ‘suffering from serious mental health issues’ and is ‘now receiving in-patient hospital care where he will stay for the foreseeable future’.
