The BBC has been criticised by Royal Broadcaster and Historian Rafe Heydel-Mankoo, following calls to ‘diversify’ their iconic classical music event BBC Proms.
Speaking on Breakfast, Heydel-Mankoo was joined by Classical Music Consultant Kate Menasse to discuss the broadcaster’s move, after critics called the annual festival ‘outdated’.
He said: “You know, I'm just so tired of all of this, that there's constant introspection from the BBC and our elite institutions, navel gazings, self-loathing almost.
“It's corrosive and it's nihilistic to the fabric of our nation. The reality here is course is that our cultural elites, the BBC and others are embarrassed by patriotism. It reminds me of George Orwell's famous quote, you may remember when he said ‘an English intellectual would be more ashamed to be caught standing to God save the King than stealing from a church poor box’.”
Rafe continued: “They have a smearing contempt for the great British public's love for the nation. But it is the great British public who pay the license fee.
“And it's the great British public who love to watch this, not just on television sets, but in recent years from great public screens erected around the nation.”
Watch the debate in full above.
Tune in to Breakfast with Eamonn and Isabel, Monday to Thursday from 6am, only on GB News.
