Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said Channel 4’s “salad days are in the past” and that it is “time to look to the future” in an online dispute with TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp over the privatisation of the broadcaster.
The pair exchanged public posts on Twitter following the publication of an opinion piece by Ms Dorries in the Mail on Sunday, addressing the government’s decision to push ahead with plans for a sale.
Read more: Big Breakfast to Big Brother – will privatisation take the edge off Channel 4?
Former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who set up Channel 4 in 1982, had ultimately wanted it to be “free from the constraints of the state”, the culture secretary wrote in the article, describing opposition to the move as “lazy, overwrought and ill-informed rhetoric from the Leftie luvvie lynch mob”.
Allsopp, who presents Channel 4 property show Location, Location, Location, reacted to the government’s original announcement about the privatisation earlier in April with a tweet saying that “no true Conservative would sell Channel 4” and that “Lady T will be spinning in her grave”.
The Twitter exchange
Responding to Ms Dorries’ article, the TV presenter said it was “crystal clear she doesn’t understand @Channel4, nor why it matters” and that the “divisive piece abuses her position and illustrates why she is entirely unsuited” to her role.
In another post, Allsopp questioned whether it was “really ministerial” to describe those contesting privatisation as a “lynch mob” while “at the same time complaining about having been accused of fascism”.
Channel 4 is state-owned but receives no public funding, with more than 90% of its revenue coming from adverts.
Richard Whiteley launched Channel 4…
Source : skynews
