Alex Salmond gets go-ahead to complain over BBC snub

Alex Salmond has been told that he can complain to the BBC over the decision not to include him in last Saturday's rugby coverage, despite him causing controversy by using a term linked to Nazi Germany to object to the move.

Lord Patten, the chairman of the BBC Trust, held talks with Salmond at Holyrood, in which he advised that a formal complaint is probably the best way to resolve the dispute.

Earlier in the week, Scotland's First Minister hit out at the corporation after his planned appearance on a sport programme ahead of the Calcutta Cup game was dropped on political grounds.

He likened the BBC to "tin-pot dictatorships", but caused most controversy by comparing one of the corporation's advisers to a "Gauleiter", a term given to provincial governors in Germany under Hitler. The word has more recently come to mean someone in authority who behaves in an overbearing manner, similarly to a "little Hitler".

Salmond now has the go-ahead to pursue a formal complaint against the decision at the BBC Trust after holding talks with Lord Patten.

The BBC chairman said: "The First Minister has a specific complaint about the Calcutta Cup, and the way his non-interview was handled. I've suggested that he should make a proper, formal complaint, or rather the government perhaps should on his behalf.

"It will eventually come to us at the Trust to adjudicate on. I think that is the way in which we can deal with that."

However, a BBC statement has revealed fresh details about what happened. The corporation said that it was duty bound to ensure "due impartiality" in its output, but also suggested that the First Minister had made repeated attempts to get on BBC channels.

The statement said: "On this occasion, having been approached by the First Minister's office, BBC Sport asked for advice and with the full agreement of both the Head of TV Sport and the Director of BBC Scotland, the judgment was made that the Scotland-England match was not an appropriate setting in which to give one single political leader that level of prominence.

"A similar suggestion that the First Minister might take part in BBC Radio Scotland's rugby coverage had already been declined. Radio Five Live also turned down the offer of an interview with the First Minister following advice from the CPA."

Opposition politicians in Scotland have been quick to pounce on the controversy, particularly Salmond's use of the word "gauleiters" and his attempts to get on the BBC's coverage.

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, told The Daily Telegraph: "So, now it appears that the BBC is a 'tinpot dictatorship' populated by 'gauleiters' simply for saying no to the First Minister as he shamelessly hawks himself from programme to programme demanding unfettered access to the nation's airwaves."

Labour MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife John Park added: "The SNP had us believe that an invitation from the BBC had been withdrawn. Now it transpires that it was actually Alex Salmond who demanded to get his face on the TV in the first place. Our national broadcaster is not there to give him free publicity."

In 2010, Salmond also submitted a complaint to the BBC Trust over his party's exclusion from the TV prime ministerial debates ahead of the general election, although it was ultimately rejected.

Lord Patten also said that Salmond has raised "some serious concerns" about the balance of the BBC's reporting of the recent referendum issue in Scotland, and the BBC chairman intends to "look at" these with BBC management.