Does the BBC have double standards? Well, they’re facing accusations of it after Anton Du Beke kept his job for a similar incident that saw Carol Thatcher fired earlier this year. The corporation said that Thatcher had been dropped by The One Show because, unlike Anton Du Beke, her apology for making a racist remark was not “unconditional”. The Strictly Come Dancing and host of Hole in the Wall had made a more extensive apology than Thatcher after calling his dancing partner Laila Rouass a “Paki”.

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Thatcher got the chop as a reporter from The One Show after it emerged she called a tennis player a “golliwog” in off-air remarks overheard by colleagues on the programme.

Friends of Thatcher, the daughter of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said the firing was the “death knell” for her television career, although she is still in demand for speeches and public appearances.

A BBC spokesman explained why she had been dismissed from The One Show: “She maintained it was a joke. When it was explained the term was offensive to lots of people she still refused to offer an unconditional apology.

“Anton understands that it’s offensive and has unconditionally apologised.”

What do you think of it all?