Zac Goldsmith loses Ofcom battle over election expenses investigation
Channel 4 News has been cleared by Ofcom over complaints made by the Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith following an investigation by the Bureau into his election expenses.
Goldsmith had complained to the broadcast regulator that he had been ‘unfairly treated’ in two Channel 4 News programmes broadcast last July.
The reports, produced by the Bureau, questioned some of the expenses filed by the MP during his successful campaign for Richmond Park and North Kingston.
In a heated interview with presenter Jon Snow, the MP had claimed that he had not been given a fair chance to respond to the allegations made by the investigation.
Goldsmith later submitted a complaint to Ofcom.
The regulator ruled that Goldsmith was given ‘an appropriate and timely opportunity to respond to the allegations’ and that the ‘broadcast fairly presented his response to the allegations.’
In an official statement Goldsmith said: ‘Despite eight months of deliberation, Ofcom has entirely missed the point of my complaint. Given some of its recent judgements, I assume I am not alone in being puzzled by its workings. What matters is that Channel Four’s allegations about my General Election campaign expenditure were dismissed by the Electoral Commission.’
The Electoral Commission decided in December last year that it would not refer the investigation to the police, however, it did write to Goldsmith and his agent, David Newman, expressing concern about how some of the election costs were apportioned.
