The Brown Broadcasting Corporation

(Formerly the Blair Broadcasting Corporation)

The Sunday Telegraph has learned that Gordon Brown is to appear in a special edition of Songs of Praise, the Sunday tea-time Christian broadcast. He is to be interviewed about courage, the subject of his book two years ago, and about people who have inspired him.

It is to be hoped that Messrs Cameron and Clegg will also be invited, so that the BBC retain at least an element of balance. Perhaps Cameron could talk about honesty and truthful people he has admired.

This is cynical and craven - appearance on a religious programme in order to try to restore his image in an election year. We are used to the daily evidence on the Toady programme which allows members of the government virtually unchallenged to make party political broadcasts, but this seems another step. (The BBC has just rejected the suggestion that Alan Sugar should not be allowed to be a member of the government and still front a popular TV programme, during election year.) I suspect that there are some Conservatives who can hardly wait to get into government to clip the wings of the biased BBC, and this is why the BBC is doing all it can to prevent this happening.