BBC boss bans poppy wearing

A BBC TV controller is at the centre of a Remembrance Day row today after telling presenters and guests to remove their poppies.

The controller of the BBC World channel, Rachel Attwell, said the symbol for fallen Commonwealth servicemen is not recognised overseas and ordered presenters to remove them. To remind staff and visitors, a notice has been posted at the channel's new studios in Wood Lane saying that poppies are "not worn on set".

BBC World is not seen in Britain, being broadcast overseas where it competes with international channels such as CNN. Ms Attwell said: "Because we have a global audience, it has always been policy that news presenters do not wear poppies. There is a lack of awareness of what the poppy means overseas. It is simply not recognised."

However, Jeremy Lillies, of the Royal British Legion, said: "We would beg to differ from the BBC's view of the poppy. It is an international symbol of remembrance which applies as much to Muslims and Hindus as to Christians. It is totally ecumenical. It is recognised in a number of countries around the world, and not just in the Commonwealth.

"They hold an annual poppy ball in Dubai and they are sold from Brazil to Japan as well as across Europe. The wish of any individual to wear a poppy should be respected. They should not be dictated to."

Ms Attwell specifically discounted the suggestion that the no-poppy rule was a response to the present international situation. She also claimed it applied only to presenters, with guests allowed to wear them if they wished.

This was not the case, however, on at least one occasion this week when Evening Standard war correspondent Robert Fox arrived to be interviewed. Fox, a reporting veteran of the Gulf War and Falklands conflict, was furious to be asked by an insistent producer to remove his poppy before being interviewed live by presenter David Jessel. He said: "It seems you can wear your poppy for a domestic audience but not for an international one, which looks like an insane example of political correctness.

"I didn't have a row but I said I objected strongly for personal reasons. Both my grandfathers served in the Great War and I would like some of the people who fell quite close to me in the Falklands to be remembered.

"The poppy is simply a memorial to the dead - it is not a symbol of religion or of empire. None of the presenters seemed to object to the instruction. I find that quite astonishing."

Ms Attwell said that asking Robert Fox to remove his poppy had been a mistake. "There is no policy of removing poppies from guests," she said.

"If that happened, it was unfortunate. It is completely up to the individual guest. That is not channel policy on poppies."