Playing the Vylan: the BBC and Glastonbury show must go on, despite the controversy

When the country is divided, the BBC is on the rack.” So said a BBC executive at the time of the Suez crisis in 1956, which led to the resignation of the then-prime minister, Anthony Eden. That crisis was over the Middle East.

- ROGER BOLTON

Today, the corporation is on the rack again over its coverage of that region. This time, there are calls not for the PM to go, but for the BBC’s director general or one of his senior executives to, first, explain themselves to MPs, and then perhaps walk the plank.

The reason this time isn’t a war - it’s the Glastonbury Festival. It follows criticism of the BBC broadcasting a performance on Saturday by punk duo Bob Vylan, whose lead performer led crowds in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF”.

The set went out live, with an on-screen warning but without other editorial interventions - no edits, no bleeping out - and remained available to watch on the iPlayer for five hours, until it was eventually expunged.

Festival organisers were quick to apologise, saying they were “appalled” by the band’s conduct, and that the apparent call to incite violence went against its ethos of “hope, unity, peace and love”. On Saturday night, Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, telephoned Tim Davie, director general of the corporation, to demand an explanation. The prime minister believes the punk duo's call-and-response chant to be “appalling hate speech”. Police in Somerset are reviewing footage of the tirade.