After weeks of criticism on social media, the BBC has finally started paying a bit more attention to the growing Tory election expenses scandal.

Today, a segment on the Daily Politics had former party chair Grants Shapps (aka Michael Green) squirming when asked questions about it.

Part of the reason why the BBC has been slow in pursuing the story is because rival Channel 4 broke it first. Others claim the BBC is under political pressure not to give it too much attention.

In January of this year, Channel 4 News uncovered that the Tories had gone over their election spending limits in the by-election for Thanet. Then the story expanded to several by-election campaigns. The Daily Mirror subsequently reported that 24 Tories had ‘broken election spending rules’.

Even as the scandal has snowballed, the media’s attention has largely focused on Labour infighting.

This afternoon, the Daily Politics became one of the few BBC programmes to cover the story.

During questioning, at one point presenter Andrew Neil says:

I mean you’re bang to rights on this aren’t you? As a party you are bang to rights on misappropriation of electoral spending. And it is a criminal offence.

Watch the segment

Shapps may have dodged a bullet there, but this scandal is not going away soon