Emma Barnett
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Emma Barnett (born 5 February 1985) is a British broadcaster and journalist. A former Digital Media and Women Editor for The Daily Telegraph, she is a weekday broadcaster for BBC Radio 5 Live and an occasional presenter of Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. From August 2016, Barnett has been a columnist for The Sunday Times and, since June 2017, has co-presented Sunday Morning Live on BBC One with Sean Fletcher.
In August 2017, Emma Barnett was controversially invited to guest-present two editions of BBC Newsnight.[1]
Cornering Corbyn
In May 2017, Emma Barnett was accused of being a “Zionist” after she cornered Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Woman's Hour, as part of the UK/2017 General Election cycle, about the cost of providing the Labour manifesto's childcare proposals:[2]
- Barnett: “How much will it cost to provide un-means tested childcare for 1.3m children?”
- Corbyn: “Um, it will cost…It will cost a lot do so we accept that…”
- Barnett: “I presume you have the figures. Yes I do. It does cost a lot to do it, the point I’m trying to make is that we are making it universal so we are in a position to make sure that every child gets it and those that at the moment get free places will continue to get them. Those that have to pay won’t and we will collect the money through taxation, mainly through corporate taxation.”
- Barnett: “So how much will it cost?”
- Corbyn: “I’ll give you the figure in a moment. You don’t know it, you’re logging into your iPad here. You’ve announced a major policy and you don’t know how much it will cost. Can I give you the exact figure in a moment?”
- Barnett: “Is not the exact issue people have with the Labour Party which came up under Gordon Brown that we cannot trust you with our money?”
- Corbyn: “Not at all.”
- Barnett: “You don’t know the figure.”
- Corbyn: “All of our manifesto is fully costed and examined.”
- Barnett: “You’re holding your manifesto, you’re flicking through it, you’ve got an iPad there, you’ve had a phone call while we’re in here and you don’t know much it will cost. Can I give you the exact figure in a moment?”
Critical tweets
Many Labour supporters tweeted criticism of Barnett, some of which was considered antisemitic in nature.[3][4] Former Channel 4 economics editor Paul Mason also criticised her saying:
- “You repeatedly editorialised in a way no trained BBC journalist would, dropping in your own views/unsubstantiated claim.”
Other journalistic colleagues came to Barnett’s defence. Former political editor of The Independent on Sunday Jane Merrick said:
- “Emma Barnett is a brilliant journalist, as shown by her forensic questioning of Corbyn this morning. Maybe she should have the Paxo slot?”
Corbyn later defended Barnett saying:
- “Journalists do a job that does require asking difficult questions . . . Under no circumstances whatsoever should anyone throw personal abuse at anyone else because they are doing the job that they have been employed to do and I will not tolerate it.”[5]
Jew in disguise
From an Orthodox Jewish background, though not herself especially observant,[6] and with an ambivalence about both Orthodox and Reform Judaism,[7] Emma Barnett has described herself as a "Jew in disguise".[8]
References
- ↑ "Radio presenters do summer cover on Newsnight"
- ↑ "Jeremy Corbyn stumbles over childcare figures on Woman's Hour"
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