The BBC has been accused of sparking an “unnecessary and unedifying row” after its highest complaints body rejected a complaint about the use of the phrase “Moneybags Rothschild”.
The reference to the Jewish banking dynasty came during a February episode of the corporation’s long-running Radio Four programme, Gardeners’ Question Time, which is still available on BBC Sounds.
In correspondence seen by the JC, the BBC rejected an objection from a listener to the Editorial Complaints Unit (ECU), ruling that the phrase would not “perpetuate prejudice” because “the Jewishness of the Rothschild family was not referred to”.
Lord Eric Pickles, the former chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), slammed the BBC’s decision, saying it was “beyond comprehension” that the corporation would not apologise for the phrase, which he said was “inappropriate and antisemitic, almost comically so”.
Horticulturalist Bunny Guinness made the remark when fellow panellist Bob Flowerdew said he would buy a plant from a shop rather than propagate one from a cutting.
Guinness replied: “Moneybags Rothschild! He’ll go and buy them.”
A Jewish listener subsequently complained to the BBC.
In its initial response, the corporation said it was “unable to agree that it was in any way antisemitic”.
The listener appealed to the ECU, the corporation's highest complaints body, describing the initial decision as an “insult to my intelligence”.
While acknowledging that Guinness’s remark was likely a “throwaway” comment not intended to offend, she said she wanted an apology.
The listener pointed out that other wealthy family names could have been used instead, and explained that the Rothschilds had featured prominently in anti-Jewish conspiracy theories, including in Nazi Germany.
But in its response, seen by the JC, the ECU upheld the original decision.
The complaints director said he could “see the potential for offence arising from the associations with the antisemitic canard you cite, and I am sorry you found what was said racist and offensive,” but maintained that the comment was not antisemitic.
“There is a clear distinction between a comment about a named family – one who were famed for the extent of their private fortune – and one about Jewish people more generally,” he wrote.
“The Rothschilds have long been synonymous with fabulous wealth, and in my view a reference to them would therefore be likely to be considered an allusion to this fact rather than to all Jewish people, as you suggest.
“There was no sense in which the comment relied on antisemitic ideas more generally and the Jewishness of the Rothschild family was not referred to. Accordingly, it does not seem to me this would have served to perpetuate prejudice,” he concluded.
The complainant, a keen gardener living in the east of England, said she felt “gaslit” by the ECU’s response and that the corporation had “not in engaged in a meaningful way at any level with the points I raised.”
She said the response left her feeling like she had been “punched in the stomach”.
“There is a real issue here that they need to face and deal with... all my Jewish friends are now not listening to Gardener's Question Time until this is resolved.”
The chief executive of the Antisemitism Policy Trust, Danny Stone, said: “This is the wrong decision - whatever the intention, it is absurd to think there were no antisemitic connotations in the phrase that was used.
“I hope the complainant will now take this to Ofcom and that the regulator will take appropriate action. We have made good progress with the BBC on training but clearly there is still some work do.”
Pickles, the Parliamentary chair of Conservative Friends of Israel in the House of Lords, said: “The BBC are showing once again a disturbing stubbornness over the issue of antisemitism.
“Clearly using the term moneybags Rothschild to describe wealth is inappropriate and antisemitic, almost comically so. The Rothschilds have been used for over a century as the archetype for a warped world view that views Jews as operating a global conspiracy to hoard wealth and oppress the masses.
“It is beyond comprehension that the BBC wouldn’t just hold their hands up, apologise and move on instead of starting an unnecessary and unedifying row.”
Russell Langer, director of public affairs at the Jewish Leadership Council, also criticised the BBC when the complaint was initially rejected.
“For the BBC to dismiss concerns about the use of this rhetoric demonstrates a failure of their understanding of antisemitism. Anti-Jewish hatred in modern Britain is at record levels and last year saw the first deadly attack against Jews in this country in living memory. The language we use matters and the BBC must show that they understand contemporary forms of antisemitism.”
Guinness and the BBC were approached for comment.
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