BBC sacked me over anti-Starmer Freezing This Christmas song, says writer

The creator of an anti-Sir Keir Starmer charity single has been stripped of his job as a BBC newsreader after revealing his identity.

Chris Middleton, a freelance newsreader for BBC Newcastle, had his shifts cancelled after revealing himself as the writer of Freezing This Christmas by Sir Starmer and the Granny Harmers.

The song, which is a parody of Mud’s 1974 hit Lonely This Christmas, criticises the Government’s decision to strip 10 million pensioners of their winter fuel allowance.

BBC guidelines ban anyone working in its news and current affairs departments from expressing political opinions.

The song’s lyrics include: “It’ll be freezing this Christmas, without fuel at home/It’ll be freezing this Christmas, while Keir Starmer is warm.”

Speaking to GB News, Mr Middleton said of his conversation with BBC bosses: “I was told, because it was a conflict of interest, it would be against the BBC’s impartiality rules to allow me to continue my job as a newsreader while also putting out a song which of course was political, but the main goal of it was to raise money and raise awareness for pensioners.”

Initially, Mr Middleton planned to put out the song anonymously, but it started to attract media attention and he was invited to appear on Martin Daubney’s GB News show.

“At that point, I had a choice,” he said. “Do I stay anonymous and maybe the song won’t do as well? Or do I put my face out there, put my name out there, and try to push the song as much as possible and raise awareness, knowing that potentially it would cost me my freelance job with the BBC?”

He opted for the latter. “When I told them that I was coming on [Daubney’s] show and was going to speak about the song, that’s when they said to me ‘OK, basically you can’t work here any more’, unfortunately.

“I did have to think about it and mull it over, because it’s quite a big thing in my life. I live a quiet life. All of this is beyond anything I normally do.

“But I made the decision that it was the right thing to do. The amount of money that has been raised, the amount of awareness that has been raised for pensioners, how well the song has done – everything that has happened over the last month has been an absolute whirlwind and absolutely brilliant.

“I made the choice knowing what would happen. It’s a shame that you can’t do both of these things. It’s political but it’s raising money for charity at the end of the day.”

Mr Middleton freelanced for the BBC for six years but said he was lucky that it formed only a small part of his income. “I have other work I do as well, that gave me the cushion to be able to actually do it.

“Had the BBC been my full income, as it is for a lot of freelancers, then I would have probably been in a position where I wouldn’t have been able to do it, because I wouldn’t have had money to pay rent or for food or for heating.

“That goes to show the position that some people are in – if your whole livelihood is reliant upon your job, you’re not going to speak out.”

When it was pointed out that Gary Lineker had kept his BBC job despite opining about politics, Mr Middleton replied: “What can I say – Gary Lineker has obviously got a little bit more pull at the BBC than I did.”

The BBC refused to play the song, despite it topping the download chart in the run-up to Christmas.

A spokesman said at the time: “Decisions about which tracks we play are made on a case-by-case basis in line with what our audience expects to hear.”

Dean Ager, the singer on the track, accused the BBC of bias and said the corporation was denying the chance to raise more money for charity.

The song reached No 37 in the official Christmas chart.

The BBC has been contacted for comment.

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