Lord Pearson and the UKIP embargo

Lord Pearson of Rannoch left me in a difficult position last week.
He phoned me on the Tuesday in his role as leader of the UK Independence Party to offer the Mid Somerset Series an exclusive statement asking the electorate in the Wells, Somerton & Frome and Taunton Deane constituencies to vote Conservative rather than for his own party, on the basis that we would not publish in the paper or on our websites before the Thursday.
I agreed and Lord Pearson emailled me the statement in letter form on the Tuesday afternoon.
So I was surprised the next morning to see a BBC reporter revealing Lord Pearson’s extraordinary position in a broadcast from Wells Cathedral Green on their nationwide BBC1 Breakfast programme.
His report featured interviews with four of the Wells candidates, including the Conservative who has taken considerable flak over his expenses and was delighted by Lord Pearson’s intervention.
UKIP’s candidates and supporters felt angry and betrayed.
So we watched our exclusive on BBC television. Then saw it copied by BBC radio and ITV, all two days before our newspapers were published.
But we could do nothing. We could have had the story on our website within minutes of the BBC broadcast on the Tuesday morning but we had agreed to the Thursday embargo.
Anyway, the Mid Somerset Series would not presume to advise anyone on how to vote but I do think it is a valuable right not to be wasted.
Philip Welch