Does the BBC have a problem with impartiality? Just wait until a Labour government gets to decide…

Forget the baseless claims of bias made by the hapless culture secretary Lucy Frazer. Keir Starmer must resist the temptation to go for the same approach. It’s time to free the BBC, writes Alan Rusbridger

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer toured the studios this week to try and persuade the public that the BBC is biased (PA Wire)

Have some pity for Lucy Frazer KC, the hapless culture secretary, as she toured the studios this week to try and persuade the great British public that the BBC is biased. At the back of her mind, she must know the stats.

I don’t mean the stats about bias at the BBC – it quickly became apparent she couldn’t even define bias, let alone quantify it. No, I mean the actuarial odds of her being in her job for much longer. She’s the 11th secretary of state for culture, media and sport in 10 years. So, an average of just under 11 months. You’re more secure managing a Premier League club.

Maybe that explains why Sky TV’s Kay Burley managed to tie Lucy up in knots as she struggled to come up with any evidence of the BBC failing to be impartial. She eventually said it was a “perception” – and it was left to Burley, who, when I last looked, was not a king’s counsel, to point out that “perception” and “evidence” were not the same thing.