If Farage *had* parachuted in, he might not be in hospital…

Very good point, Anthony. It was a tremendous showing by Stevens; and he could have developed real momentum, had the media not been obsessed with Farage/UKIP.

I guess that you, like me, will be at the democracy demo this afternoon. I wonder how many of our UKIP ‘friends’ will be there to join us?…

Less dramatic, more likely explanation: Farage is known to many voters outside of Bercow’s constituency, so if your a journo trying to squeeze a story out of this, you obviously focus on the speaker the Tories hate and the gobby git off the telly who used to lead UKIP.

I mean seriously, replace “the right” with “the left” and replace the names Bercow and Farrage with some suitable Labour/SWP alternatives, and hey presto you’ve got an article that wouldn’t look out of place on Biased BBC or ConHome.

If lefties rightly complain about the right complaining about the BBC, it’s not very clever to seize on things like this as evidence of rightwing BBC conspiracy.

It really is just a case of journalism. Which is bad enough – but it ain’t demonstrative of some evil right-wing bias to rail against.

One way of looking at it certainly….although with Steven’s incredibly europhile views it’s more likely that he stood specifically so as to try and make sure that Farage didn’t beat Bercow (no, not just UKIP muttering).

Of course, the probable reason is the people of Buckingham preferred a moderate tory to a loud mouthed failed Kamikaze pilot.

Speaking of loudmouth failures, where’s the other Tim?

If lefties rightly complain about the right complaining about the BBC, it’s not very clever to seize on things like this as evidence of rightwing BBC conspiracy.

Rubbish. It’s perfectly legitimate to point out examples of rightwing bias at the BBC regardless of what rightwingers do.

And secondly, Farage is a publicity hungry muppett with a brain that isn’t really much to speak off. But you’re basically saying the BBC should endorse that narrative, that Farage is more important, than the guy who actually got more votes than him locally.

The point of the BBC isn’t to pander to the political elites, but to serve the people and local populations – which, er, didn’t really buy Farage’s garbage

why the anti bercow slant? i’m no tory but he’s probably to the left of most labour mps and the tory right hate him.

I agree with Tim Worstall; Farage announced first, Stevens as a response, Stevens is far too pro-EU for him to have got many of Farage’s votes. I’d have voted for Stevens, but the idea that Farage’s voters would’ve automatically switched is an interesting position, but one not grounded in any reality I recognise.

“It’s perfectly legitimate to point out examples of rightwing bias at the BBC regardless of what rightwingers do.”

Except it wasn’t bias. It was journalism.

“And secondly, Farage is a publicity hungry muppett with a brain that isn’t really much to speak off. But you’re basically saying the BBC should endorse that narrative, that Farage is more important, than the guy who actually got more votes than him locally.”

Yes, again, it was an example of journalism. Virtually nobody outside of the constituency gives a rats arse about the other guy, whereas Farage is firstly famous, and secondly has just had a massive great big plane crash. Surprise surprise, the BBC reports more about Farage. To call this some sort of right wing bias/conspiracy is tin-foil-hat stuff.

“The point of the BBC isn’t to pander to the political elites, but to serve the people and local populations – which, er, didn’t really buy Farage’s garbage”

Indeed. And thank god they didn’t. But the fact is, Farage – being Farage – has more newsworthiness (not least because he literally just fell out of the sky) than some other bloke nobody has ever heard of.