HEARTBROKEN: Victoria Coren Mitchell breaks silence as Have I Got News For You removed by BBC

TV presenter Victoria Coren Mitchell has broken her silence after the latest episode of Have I Got News For You was pulled from BBC iPlayer after she made an embarrassing error regarding Labour’s plans to introduce digital ID cards. On Friday night (October 3), the Only Connect stepped in as host on the evening talk show, welcoming panellists Sheila Hancock, Miles Jupp, Ian Hislop, and Paul Merton.

In one segment, Victoria asked the teams who will benefit from Sir Keir Starmer’s decision to introduce the ID scheme, before telling them: “I was thinking of the company Multiverse, who has been chosen to run the digital ID cards scheme.” She then added that the company was founded by Tony Blair’s son Euan, joking: “That’s a happy coincidence, isn’t it?”

But now, claims that Multiverse will run the government project have been debunked by fact-checking company FullFact, which states: “This isn’t true, according to both the government and Multiverse, which is an ‘upskilling company’, not a software developer.”

It added: “The government has not announced any partner for the project. It’s understood the government expects digital ID to be designed, built and run by an in-house team, not outsourced to external suppliers, although there has been some media speculation about whether the scheme may create opportunities for other tech firms.”

Today (October 4), Victoria has addressed the embarrassing blunder with a short statement online. Taking to X – formerly known as Twitter – she penned: “Meanwhile, if you see a clip of me saying the ID card contract has gone to Tony Blair’s son: it hasn’t.

“That was something I was given to ask about last night, but turns out to be incorrect. Which is bad news for the fact checkers but good news for social mobility.”

The information appears to come from viral social media posts, but FullFact reports that there is “no evidence” of Blair’s son or the company being involved in the project, despite Tony Blair’s public advocation for the idea in the past.

Fans were left outraged by the unexpected error, with one post on social media: “Not just a throwaway quip but part of the script. Someone is getting a massive telling-off for this. (I bet it will be chopped out of the iPlayer edit too).”

Another agreed: “Oh my god. Have I Got News For You just referred to this completely false claim as a fact!” as someone else fumed: “Absolutely astonished, Have I Got News For You just stated that Multiverse will be running the government’s digital ID scheme. An incredibly basic failure of fact-checking.”

A BBC spokesperson later told Express.co.uk: “This week’s Have I Got News For You contained an inaccurate story about Euan Blair’s company, Multiverse, being chosen to develop the government’s contract to produce digital ID cards.

Multipverse is not a software developer, and there is no evidence of any involvement in the proposed digital ID scheme; therefore, we have taken the episode off BBC iPlayer while we edit the relevant section out. We apologise for this unintentional editorial oversight.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology told us: “Claims that Multiverse has been chosen to develop the Government’s digital ID app are false. No decisions have been made on its delivery, but we expect it to be designed, built, and run by in-house Government teams – not outsourced to external suppliers.

“As we said last week, we will launch a public consultation to ensure we get the best possible input on the delivery and design of the scheme.”