Have I got bleeps for you: BBC gags MP

Published on Saturday 23 April 2011 13:18

A CONSERVATIVE MP's comments were bleeped out of a BBC quiz show after she came close to revealing the name of a footballer who is the subject of a so-called super-injunction.

Appearing on Have I Got News For You, Louise Bagshawe said a phrase which rhymed with the player's name.

The controversial legal gagging orders caused further anger this week after a judge said the High Court can grant injunctions banning anyone from publishing material "wherever it is necessary and proportionate" to use one to protect an individual's rights.

Mr Justice Eady made the declaration in a case in which he agreed to issue a final "contra mundum" order - one "against the world" - in the case of a man who sought a ban on the publication of what he said was confidential material about his private life.

During the TV programme, which aired on Friday night, panellists were shown four blank figures, which host Rhod Gilbert identified only as A, B, C and D.

The MP said: "You've got four blank faces. You cannot see who they are, you're not allowed to know who they are, they may or may not have done something with ladies who are not their wives.

"One of them definitely doesn't rhyme with ... even though he's a footballer."

As well as the MP's words being bleeped out, a black mark was put over her mouth to prevent lip reading.

Regular team captain Ian Hislop, the editor of Private Eye magazine, interrupted to say: "Can somebody call the police. I'm sitting here next to a Conservative MP who's trying to break a series of super-injunctions. I'm absolutely appalled."