Theresa May travels to Brussels in WW2 fighter plane ... or so BBC gaffe suggests – video Brexit Theresa May will not be flying to Brussels in Spitfire, BBC clarifies Corporation blames human error for suggestion caused by misplaced footage on News at Six Matthew Weaver Thu 31 Jan 2019 11.01 GMT Share on Facebook

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The BBC has blamed “human error” for a suggestion on its News at Six that Theresa May would be flying back to Brussels for more Brexit talks in a second world war Spitfire.

But the explanation has been greeted with scepticism by some who saw the incident as an example of pro-Brexit bias at the corporation.

At the end of Wednesday’s evening programme viewers were shown black and white footage of the iconic planes as newsreader Sophie Raworth summarised the prime minister’s plan to reopen Brexit talks with EU leaders.

As the footage of the planes was played, Raworth read: “Theresa May says she intends to go back to Brussels to negotiate her Brexit deal but EU leaders say the deal is done and they will not reopen talks.”

The editor of the programme, Paul Royall, said the Spitfire clip had been intended to be a foretaste of an item about a new Battle of Britain museum at Biggin Hill in London.

In a tweet he blamed the mix up on human error and joked he was “pretty sure” that May would not be travelling to Europe in a Spitfire.

For those wondering - simple human error at end of #BBCNewsSix. A production mistake meant pictures used earlier to tease story about Biggin Hill ended up in our top story recap at close of show. If and when it happens pretty certain PM not travelling to Brussels like this. pic.twitter.com/P2yXMnkkCK — Paul Royall (@paulroyall) January 30, 2019

Tim Montgomerie, the pro-Brexit columnist and founder of the ConservativeHome website, said he believed Royall’s explanation, but many would not.

Many won’t ever believe that this ending to the #BBCNewsSix was an accident*!!! 😂😂😂



* I do https://t.co/XxcVLCaHoA — Tim Montgomerie (@montie) January 30, 2019

Some pro-EU Twitter users suggested it was a deliberate attempt to send a subliminal message about about May battling the European Union.

No, not buying it, this fits too well in the Let's get back to former glory, we won the war after all- rhetoric that was peddled a lot on the BBC lately. You are bias and dangerously pushing the Hard Brexit agenda, shameful @BBC !!! — Lisa Huts (@HutsLihuts) January 31, 2019